Torn Asunder
by Rowena DeVandal
Summary: Post X:2. Angela is a mutant hiding in plain sight in Detroit. Out of the blue, someone she knows waltzes through the door. What will happen when he finds out? Rated M, language & content. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** The X-Men and all their cool stuff is owned by 20th Century Fox and Marvel. I'm not getting any money off this, just having my wicked way with them. Original characters/locations are all mine. Slightly AU.

**Author's Note: **This is the first fic I've ever submitted anywhere. The idea popped into my head one night at work and would not let go. Please review, no flames, but I am more than capable of taking constructive criticism. Italics will denote either a flashback or something that's written, it should be easy enough to figure out which is which. :)

**Torn Asunder**

Chapter 1.

Of all the dives he had to walk into, why did it have to be mine? Ok, sure, it's not like I was trying to make any bones about the place; I did name it "The Dive", after all. But still, with 9 other bars that were far worse than mine in a 2-block radius, why did he have to pick mine? I know what he likes in a bar, or at least what he used to like. Maybe he was finally moving up in the world.

The Dive isn't actually the only place I own. I have a dance club in downtown Detroit called "Rant n' Rave" or "RnR" for short. I thought it was clever and it does make for a good marketing scheme. As I'm sure you can guess, its specialty is techno/industrial music, flashing lights and overpriced drinks sold to barely 21-year-old customers who pay WAY too much to get in. The Dive is my side project, for lack of a better term. It's small, smoky and attracts older customers thanks to my cigar lounge in the back, the non-sucking music on the jukebox and my excellent selection of import beers. I don't even sell American beer here, because I won't sell what I won't drink to people who are old enough to (supposedly) know better. American beer is like having sex in a canoe. It's fucking close to water.

At any rate, I opened The Dive about 3 years after RnR made me a lot of money, just so I could have somewhere to go to unwind after going to work. I'm not ashamed to admit that I took full advantage of the generosity of the government when it comes to women who want to go into business for themselves. The grant was just barely enough to open RnR, but I've been rewarded tenfold what I started with and now I don't have to worry about money or much of anything else. I can't remember the last time someone came to look for me, but I've found that money, while not buying happiness, can definitely buy peace. There's not a P.I. in 5 counties that will tell someone the truth about who or where I am and I have a hacker friend (the most brilliant 17 year old kid on the planet, I shit you not) who keeps my name, face and anything else I want off the radar. But when you're both a mutant and an ex-government agent who's technically AWOL, it's better that way.

I also save money by living in the apartment over The Dive. It also means I don't have to go far when I want to go home and there's no pesky drinking and driving tickets to deal with. Three months ago, I was gladder than ever that home was just a flight of stairs away. One of my favorite groups was there that night, a bunch of 30something men and women who liked to smoke cigars and give a running commentary on the clientele. Their table in the corner was usually a chorus of "harrumph" with the occasional "oh, indeed!" thrown in for good measure. I mentally thought of them as "The Explorers Club", because the more they drank, the more they spoke in faux snobby British accents. I was back in the office doing the schedule when a very loud "HARRUMPH", accompanied by table knocking sounded from their corner. I couldn't make out everything they were saying over the din of the jukebox and the pool tables, but I know they were having fun with the poor, unsuspecting person who just walked in. But, they say curiosity killed the cat and I had to have a look.

As soon as I poked my head around the doorframe, my heart almost stopped and I was frozen in place. I couldn't see his whole face, more like a quarter profile, but I was sure I knew who it was. On the other hand, it had been over 15 years since the last time I saw him, so how could it be him? I stood there, staring in disbelief and telling myself 'it can't be him' over and over, as though thinking it hard enough could make it true. I knew I had to look away because he always knew when he was being watched, but I couldn't. And I'm certain it didn't take the eternity I thought it did before he looked, but those were 2 of the longest minutes of my life.

He hadn't changed a bit. His dark hair was still unruly and stuck up like an absurd pair of ears, he still had the same scowl on his face (which was still unbelievably sexy for some reason) and the same hazel eyes that were both wary and haunted. For a moment, I thought he'd recognized me, but he just grunted to himself and looked away. Time finally started to cooperate with me again and I ducked back into my office, locking the door behind me.

My first thought was "he's with THEM and they've sent him to find me". Hot on its heels was "impossible, if he'd come for me he wouldn't have just sat there and I'd already be trussed up and drugged to the teeth in the back of some non-descript government van". I tried to think rationally, but that was becoming more and more difficult by the second. A thousand different thoughts and feelings were warring with each other and I was alternately sweating and chilled to the bone with dread. I don't know how long I sat there in shock, but it must have been longer than the few seconds I though it was. Ricky, my bartender, was pounding on the door and yelling that he needed help. Yeah, I own the place, but Ricky's the one who keeps it going and if he needed a hand I'd give it to him. I took a deep breath and opened the door with shaking hands.

"Look, bosslady, I know I can't technically boss you around, but a bachelor party just came in and I need you behind the bar." Ricky was over a foot taller than me, 270 pounds of pure muscle, but he mixes a mean White Russian and he keeps the rowdier patrons from getting out of hand. However, his hulking outward appearance concealed a heart the size of Guam and he was as attuned to my moods as almost any other person I'd ever known (the only other person being the person-who-could-not-be-there nursing a beer at a corner table). He took one look at me and frowned. "Hey, Angela, you don't look so good."

I scowled at him. "Thanks, you look like shit yourself." His frown deepened and I sighed. "It's nothing, Ricky. I'm just tired. Still having DJ problems at the other place. You know how it is."

His frown relaxed a bit, as he looked closer. "You sure? I can call Carl; it's not that big a deal. He's just down the road…"

"No, I'm fine. But the mixed ones are all yours. I'll just sling beers, deal?"

He grinned. "Hey, you pour the best beer in the city, who am I to argue?" He held the door open for me and I slipped out, making sure it was locked behind me. I'd hoped that the person-who-could-not-be-there was really not there anymore, but luck wasn't with me. He was still there, scowling at his beer as though it offended him. Well, if he didn't recognize me before, maybe I was in luck after all.

The next 2 hours were hectic, to say the least. The bachelor party had started at one end of the block and they were working up a good drunk by the time they left my place. I was certain they'd wind up at some strip joint or another, as these things usually do, but in the time they spent at The Dive, they managed to run out most of my regulars. By the time they left, the only customers who stuck it out were a couple of old guys shooting pool, 3 of the Explorers and the-person-who-could-not-be-there. Except, of course, he was still there.

I leaned back against the cooler behind the bar and let out a breath of relief. I have very few standards for my clientele beyond the usual "shirt and shoes" rules that everyone else follows. Don't harass the cigar smokers (they like to buy the good Scotch, which is good for business), don't harass me or my staff, don't hustle pool and kilt wearers get the first round on the house (long story, don't ask). There's a sign behind the bar that reads, "Assholes will be cheerfully beaten" and another that says "Complaint Department" with a shelf underneath that holds a mace. Needless to say, my clientele tends to be extremely well behaved. Even though the bachelor party had followed my rules (no kilts, though, which was a shame), I hadn't expected a group of 25 rowdy guys to show up and see who could drink the most shots in a row without hurling. The answer happens to be 9 and it wasn't the groom. I hoped he'd be able to remember his vows by the next day.

As I stood there, wilting, I noticed that the-person-who-could-not-be-there was staring at me out of the corner of his eye, his brow furrowed in concentration. My gut started churning as the mixed feelings of hope and dread once again began chasing each other around in my head. Without even thinking, I grabbed the chilled bottle of Belvedere vodka out of the cooler, poured myself 4 shots and downed them in quick succession, my eyes tightly closed. I stood there for a moment as the alcohol burned down my throat and settled in my stomach, a brief wave of dizziness fogging my thoughts. However, I have a pretty good tolerance to alcohol (years of practice), so it didn't last as long as I would have liked.

I finally decided to take a chance on speaking to him. I pulled a couple beers out of the cooler and popped them open as I made my way to the small table he occupied alone. He looked away as I approached, studying the almost empty beer bottle in his hand. I set one of the beers down in front of him, maybe a little harder than I had intended, and straddled the chair next to his. He looked at me sideways, then looked away, reaching for his wallet.

"On the house." I said, waving his money away. "I have it on very good authority that the boss won't mind."

"Oh yeah? How can ya be so sure?" He replied, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Cuz I'm the boss." I replied with a smirk, taking a long pull off my beer. It's not one usually found in the states, the import duties on it are outrageous. But Waterloo Dark is a microbrew from Canada that I've loved fora very long timeand I refuse to go to Windsor every time I want one. So much easier to just come down here for it.

"Fair enough." He said, tossing back a third of his bottle in one go, then looked at the bottle and made an appreciative sound. I then found myself pinned down by another sideways stare. "That was a neat trick with the vodka shots a minute ago. Or wasn't it really vodka?"

"Would you like me to line some up for both of us and find out yourself?" I asked, all innocence.

He chuckled with genuine amusement. "Oh no, I know better than to fall for that. When a woman's confident enough about shots, it's just plain stupid to challenge her."

"Ooh, sexy AND smart. I might have to keep you around for awhile." I smiled and played with my beer bottle. He gave a half smile and concentrated on his beer for a moment. I studied his profile, looking for any detail that would tell me this was NOT who I thought it was. Unfortunately, I wasn't havingany luck in that department. I took a sip off my beer before speaking again. "Hmm, modest too. I could get to really like you."

"I get the feelin' you're tryin' to pick me up." He commented dryly.

"Is that so bad?"

"I don't know." He said with a shrug, and then concentrated on his beer again. We sat there in silence long enough for it to be uncomfortable before he turned to look at me full on. "Do I know you?"

I swallowed hard, suddenly nervous. "I don't know, do you?"

"I'm gettin' the impression you might. The way you hid earlier when I showed up. And how youlooked over after the shots, like you were almost hopin' I'd be gone." He took another drink of the beer, savoring it this time. "Either way, you have good taste in beer."

"I'm just a dark beer kinda girl. This is my personal favorite, it reminds me of someone I used to know."

The sexy eyebrow trick made a repeat performance, then he shrugged and we drank in silence for a moment. Each second felt like an hour to me as we sat there; I had no idea how to broach the subject that hung between us. He solved my dilemma by pulling out a cigar and lighting it, which gave me something else to talk about.

"I usually confine those to the lounge area in the back where the Explorers sit." I pointed out, gesturing with my beer bottle to where the 3 remaining were laughing at something that I had missed completely.

"Explorers?"

"Yeah, the loud bunch in the corner. When they really get going, they remind me of a bunch of 19th century British guys who are reliving their days hunting in darkest India or something."

"I can move if you really want me to." He said, half rising from his seat. I reached out quickly to stop him.

"No, it's all right. Probably won't get many more people tonight anyway. And they don't bother me. They also remind of someone I once knew." I took a long drink of my Waterloo, glancing at him sideways.

"Hm. Relative or ex?"

"Does it make a difference?" It was his turn to give me the sideways glance.

"S'pose not."

We lapsed back into silence, finishing the beers I'd brought with me. I waved to Ricky, who came over quickly with two more.

"This one on the house, too?"

I clinked his bottle with mine. "For as long as you're willing to drink with me."

"Hope I don't bankrupt ya." He chuckled.

"Never happen."

The silence descended over us again, nervous on my part, wary on his. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be right about who this was, but short of blurting the whole thing out, I didn't know how to find out. Of course, even if I was wrong and it was just an uncanny resemblance, he was still a damn fine specimen and I might just throw caution to the wind and take him upstairs anyway. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize he was staring at me again until he cleared his throat.

"So, how long ya had this place?"

I shrugged. "Few years. It pays for itself and I live upstairs. I have the best collection of import beers in the city." I took a long drink. "And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, it also reminded me of someone."

"Well, it certainly doesn't live up to its name. I don't see any sawdust and the music doesn't suck."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. But at least you don't have to worry about the cleanliness of the glasses." He smiled at that. "Besides, there's something about the way a small bar smells, don't you think?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know. Scent is the best trigger for memory there is. I can smell open water and I immediately think about the first time I saw the ocean. Or I'll catch the scent of pine trees and remember my first Christmas. Things you thought were long buried suddenly come right back when you smell something familiar." I looked around the bar, then back into his eyes. "The person this place reminds me of loved places just like this. Ok, this one is a little classier than I remember, but the scents are all there: beer, cigar and cigarette smoke, even the wood." I chuckled a bit at that. "You should have seen me when I was picking out paneling for this place. I smelled every bit of wood and every stain and varnish until I found just the right ones. Figured if I was gonna be surrounded by a memory, it might as well be an accurate one." I looked back at my companion. Now it was his turn to look surprised. "What, is something wrong?"

He shook his head as though to clear it. "What? No, no it's just…I never thought of it that way." He dropped his cigar in his empty bottle then turned to look at me head on. "Seems me and your lost friend have somethin' in common. I always end up in places like this because I like they way they smell. Reminds me of somethin', but I can never quite put my finger on what."

I swallowed hard, hoping I wasn't blushing or turning pale. Not that I can really turn pale. With 2 bars to run, I rarely see the sun, so "fair" doesn't begin to describe me. "Well, maybe being here will help jar your memory."

"Maybe." I saw that his beer was empty again and waved Ricky over to bring him a fresh one. Bless his heart he brought an ashtray, as well as my cigarettes from behind the bar. I smiled at him gratefully and lit one with hands that I don't think shook too much.

"Ya know those things'll kill ya." My companion said ironically.

"Oh, this from the guy with the big cigars." I took a long drag. "They haven't killed me yet. I figure I still have plenty of time." Oh, if he only knew how true that was. Finally, the suspense got the better of me, the small talk grating on my nerves. "So, why are you in Detroit?"

"Just passin' through."

"Ah, I see. Been anywhere interesting?"

"You could say that."

"Not much for conversation, are you?"

"Not used to bein' around people so much. Been travelin' alone for a long time." He took another long drink of his beer and pulled out another cigar. I helpfully lit it for him. "Thanks." He took a long drag then once again looked right at me. "So, back to your disappearin' act earlier."

Damn, he wasn't sidetracked. "I-it wasn't." I stammered. "I mean, I was gonna ask my bartender something and as soon as I popped my head out the door, I forgot what it was." Yeah, that didn't sound convincing to me either, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice.

"Still don't explain why you ran n' hid. Looked like you'd seen a ghost."

I took another long pull off my beer, then ran my hand through my hair, debating if I should put my cards on the table or not. After all, he'd been damn good at what he did, we both were. It could be a ploy, a subtle trick of some kind. But "subtle" was never the word that came to mind where he was involved. I would be inclined to say "mayhem" most certainly, but never "subtle". I sighed and decided to take a chance. "Maybe because I have, Logan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Logan or anything X-Men...20th Century Fox and Marvel have that honor...i'm just borrowing them for my own nefarious purposes.

**Chapter 2.**

(Logan)

_It seems like all you've been doing the past 15 years is run. You ran naked, covered in blood out of a chamber of horrors into the vast whiteness of a Canadian winter. Later, you ran from civilization, because it was too hard to be around so many people when you didn't feel half as human as they were. Most recently, you ran from the first place you thought you might be able to call home because it was easier than dealing with the painful reminders that assaulted you wherever you went. But you've also been running from yourself._

_Fifteen years of memories are all you have, although you feel so much older than that. Most of the memories you do have are memories of pain, of horror. Everything previous to that is a blank slate, as though you sprang fully formed from that tank, having never lived before. Sometimes you wonder if that might not be true, except that your body knows things which your mind has no recollection of learning. And those things aren't the kinds of things that you get without years of practice. So, there has to be a life that happened before you became the thing you are today._

_As you sit in yet another run-down bar, nursing the latest in a long string of beers, you wonder if you'll ever find the truth. But you also wonder if the truth is worth it. You are very good at what you do, probably the best, but what you do isn't nice, not by a longshot. So you drink your beer and wonder if the killer was always inside you or if someone made you that way._

_Finally sick of sitting here and arguing with yourself, you stand, throw some money down and stalk out of the bar. You straddle the borrowed motorcycle and kick it into life with a roar, heading down a road that seems just as dark as every road before it. You don't know where you'll end up this time; you just let your instincts carry you on your way. After all, they've never led you astray before. Maybe they'll lead you somewhere with a little more light this time._

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I couldn't believe what I just heard. Did this woman I'd known for less than half an hour really know me? Did she really call me by name? There were only 3 explanations for this: She was a telepath, she was with the government and this place was a very elaborate front, or she honestly knew who I was. Since this is me we're talking about, I assumed the worst.

"What?" I asked, not trying to keep the menace out of my voice.

"I said…" she began, but I cut her off.

"I heard what you said." I pitched my voice low, so I wouldn't be overheard. The odd thing was, her scent didn't give off anything like fear. She wasn't afraid of me, not even a little. "Who are you?"

Her eyes held a look of mixed anger, surprise and confusion as she searched my face. I don't know what she was looking for, but all I was about to give was the patented Wolverine scowl. "What the fuck does that mean?" She snapped loudly. "You don't remember me?" She turned away, scowling. "Well isn't that just fucking rich."

Her burly bartender came striding over to the table and took up a defensive position behind her. "Everything ok bosslady? Need this asshole taken care of?"

I started to get out of my chair, ready to put this musclehead through a wall, but the woman put a hand on my arm to stop me. "No, Ricky. It's all right. Everything's fine, nothing I can't handle." I'm sure she was thinking that she was saving me from getting my ass kicked. Or maybe she knew she was saving him, if she really did know me. Either way, I sat back down, slowly, never taking my eyes off of him. He looked me up and down, snorted and went back behind the bar.

I turned back to the woman and fixed her with an icy stare. "I won't ask you nicely again. Who are you?" She ran nervous fingers through her hair, clenching it in the front like it hurt her. I was already sick of this cat and mouse shit, so I reached over and grabbed her wrist. "Who the fuck are you?"

She looked up at me and it seemed as though something connected in her mind. "You really want to know?" I nodded once. "Fine." She jerked her arm out of my hand and stood up. "Come on. Come with me."

"What? Why?" I was instantly suspicious. "Where the fuck do you think you're takin' me?"

She sighed. "Upstairs. My apartment is up there. There's something I need to show you." I narrowed my eyes at her and didn't move. She sighed again. "Look, I swear to you, this isn't some kind of a trick, a trap or a ploy. I don't have a platoon of people lurking in the alley hoping to get their hands on you. It'll be just you and me, in my apartment. If you don't like what I have to say, you can trash the place for all I fucking care. I can afford it."

I considered what she said very carefully. None of my senses gave me any indication that she was being anything but honest. But really, what were the chances that I'd ever find anyone who genuinely knew me and in Detroit of all places? I'd spent more time in the States in the past month than I'd spent in the previous 15 years. I took her measure. Just barely over 5 feet tall and she looked like she weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Her hair was a light brown color streaked with an unnatural shade of bright red and she wore it long. Now that it occurred to me to look at her closely, I saw that she was very attractive. Of course, at least part of that was the attitude she gave off. I can't help it I've always had a weakness for strong women. Still, attitude or not, she'd never be able to take me in a fight, fair or otherwise, so I made my decision. "All right." I growled. "But I swear, if this is some kind of trick little girl, I'll…"

She cut me off. "I'm not a little girl." She said, glaring at me as she stood. I followed suit and we stood there for a moment, glare to scowl. She gave a little snort, turned and went into a walk in cooler behind the bar. She emerged a moment later with a 12 pack of beer and gestured for me to follow her. "Hey Ricky." She said over her shoulder. "I'm turning in for the night. Close up for me, would you?"

"Sure thing, bosslady." He replied with a smirk. "I'll take care of the deposits. Try not to disturb the neighbors." She flipped him off (which made him chuckle), took some keys out of her pocket and opened the door she'd vanished behind earlier.

I followed her into what had to be her office. It was really the stairwell that led to the upper level, which told me she must own the whole building. There had to have been some remodeling done, otherwise the massive computer desk would have never fit in there otherwise. The computer setup was impressive, to say the least. The only other furnishings were the chair behind the desk and a filing cabinet. I made note of a door that probably led to the alley next to the building. It appeared to be made out of steel, probably solid, and it had 3 deadbolts on it. Well, this was Detroit after all, you could never be too careful when you're a woman living alone above a bar you own. I also noticed the keypad next to the door, which she punched a code into. I correctly assumed it was an alarm.

She went up the stairs, still rattling her keys and I followed close behind her. She was obviously very security conscious, because she had to have at least 3 locks on this door as well. She finally pushed the door open and preceded me into the apartment. A small entry hall led into a decently sized living room. The carpet was a silvery gray color and all the furniture was black leather, chrome or glass except for a narrow cabinet in one corner. That was about 6 feet tall and lacquered in a bright red. Other small touches of red were scattered about, which kept the place from looking completely monochrome. Hell, if I ever had my own apartment, I'd probably decorate it the same way. As I made my way further in, I noticed the kitchen off to the right and from what I could see, the color scheme continued in there. Another short hall to the left led to what I assumed were the bathroom and bedroom.

She kicked off her boots and sat down at one end of the sofa. I remained standing for a while, trying to detect anything that would be amiss in this situation. The only strong scents in the place were the two of us, the only sounds the ones you'd expect to hear in an apartment above a bar. I decided that everything was probably all right, took off my jacket and threw it in an armchair before sitting at the opposite end of the couch. I looked over and she was holding out another Waterloo, an open one in her other hand. I took it and popped it open.

"Who are you?" I asked, taking a sip of the beer. It really was good stuff.

"Angela Rex, who are you?" She snapped.

"Ya know, that's not exactly an answer, darlin'." I said. "Names don't mean shit. I should know."

"Yeah well, what can I say? It's not every day that someone I haven't even seen in over 15 years comes walking into my bar like some damn ghost." She tipped her beer back and downed at least a third of it. "I honestly thought you were dead." She added quietly.

"And why would you think I'd be dead?" I asked cautiously.

"Because the world isn't so big that I wouldn't have run across you before this. And if I know you, you'd never leave North America for love or money."

"Exactly how well do you think you know me?"

"Now, that all depends. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?" She'd turned in her seat, curling her legs beneath her like a cat. "I mean there has to be something left." I still got no sense of fear from her and there was no indication that she was being dishonest.

"That depends on what you're talkin' about." I said evasively.

"How about I put your stubborn little mind at ease, ok?" I raised an eyebrow, but gestured for her to continue. "I know you're a mutant. I know you have claws. I know you have metal all through your body." I glared at her, once again extremely suspicious. "But before I tell you how I know, I want to know what you actually remember."

I still had no sense that this was some kind of setup. However, it was still a risk to tell her anything. But for some damn strange reason, I also had the sense that I could trust her. I decided to play it straight. "Not much, really." I said. "I remember some kinda lab with this tank in it. I'm in there and someone's cuttin' me open, doin' shit to me." I swallowed hard. "And I remember pain, lots of pain then lots of blood." I closed my eyes, concentrating. "I remember the snow, being cold. There's a lot that's just a blur, but I know I moved around a lot, took jobs here and there for quick cash for a while. I don't remember much that makes sense before about 15 years ago." I opened my eyes and sat back, taking a long drink from my beer. "I can say that I don't remember you, not at all. Which probably means I'm a fuckin' idiot for tellin' you any of this."

She shook her head. "No, you're not an idiot. I promise you, I'm not trying to trick you or anything. I have just as much reason to be invisible as you do." She tilted back her beer and finished it, then grabbed another. "I just got sick to death of hiding in the dark and decided to hide in the open instead."

I finished my beer and she handed me another. "Ya know I'm still no closer to knowin' who you are than I was when we came up here." I said, cracking open the bottle. "All this evasive bullshit is gettin' really old really quick darlin'."

She moved a little closer to me and leaned forward. "Do you really want to know what I know? Does it matter that much to you?"

"Would I have asked you if it fuckin' didn't?" I replied, raising my voice. "I have a whole life that happened before all that other shit and damn it I want to know if any of it's worth rememberin'! There has to be somethin' back there!"

She nodded and stood up, crossing to the red cabinet in the corner. She removed her keys from her pocket again, but she turned to me before opening it. "Fine. I'll show you what I have. But I'm not sure how you're going to take it. Just remember, I warned you." She unlocked the door and it swung open easily. I couldn't really see what was in there from where I sat, but the smell of sandalwood filled my nose. She took something down from a shelf and closed the doors before returning to the sofa. This time, she sat down right next to me. I saw that she held a small black lacquered box in her lap, about the size of a cigar box, and I noticed that this was the source of the sandalwood. She half raised the lid before looking at me again. "Logan, I can't really tell you anything about before I met you. You never liked to talk about your past. But I can tell you that you've been around a lot longer than you can imagine. And you're not the only one who's been altered." She reached into the box and pulled out a few items: a silver ring, a little cat figurine and a photograph. It was the last thing that she pulled out that almost stopped my heart. It was a steel tag on a metal ball chain and I recognized it. My hand was shaking as I took it from her, running a thumb over the characters pressed into it. There was a serial number and a word, "Hellcat". I looked at her in shock. "Logan, I was there too and I owe you my life."

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**AN:** Thanks to anyone who's read this...i actually have a rough of the whole thing completed, i'm just going through and reworking the flow and stuff...also, see that little thing down that what says "review"? If you click it and write some stuff in the box that appears, i'll do the happy dance for 15 minutes...:) Special thanks to Miss Lover Girl for my first review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah i don't own the X-Men...blah blah 20th Century Fox and Marvel do...blah blahnot getting anything out of this except fun...blah blah just using them (especially Logan) to get my jollies...:)

**Chapter 3.**

(Angela)

_Can't breathe, can't see, can't scream. Feel the heat as they pump that shit into you; feel it burning til you wish you would die. You know it'll heal, way faster than a normal person. But you're not normal, you're a mutant, lower than an insect to them and they'll test you to destruction if they want to. If they can destroy you. They've tried, gods above how they've tried, but you always come back. You die and you always come back, your "nine lives" at work even though it's happened more than that. It doesn't help that you have retractable claws on your hands and feet, that you can hear the tiniest sound, that you're so agile you always land on your feet. Ah, there it is, sweet release. Your heart couldn't take it, again; it's finally given out. They've killed you, again. Maybe this time you can stay that way and you won't have to do this anymore._

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Logan stared in shock at the tag in my hand, before reaching out and taking it gently from me. He stroked it with his thumb, the look on his face not quite believing that it was real. I took the other items and held them in my lap, waiting for him. This is all I have left from that time, the only things I couldn't part with. I cleared my throat and he looked back to me, dropping the tag back in the box.

"How…what…who the hell are you!" he said forcefully, his anger kicking up another notch.

"I already told you, I'm Angela Rex, code name 'Hellcat'." I replied. "I was there longer than you. But I was a lot more cooperative than you were."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means they didn't have to work as hard to keep me in line." I took a long drink. "Let's just say that they had some…leverage they could use against me. I came along quietly when they picked me up. You were shot to hell when they brought you in."

"What do you mean, shot to hell?" He replied skeptically.

"Oh yeah. You had enough lead in you to drop a rhino and you were still fighting tooth and nail. They had to shoot you with enough tranquilizers to drop that same rhino just to get you into a holding cell."

"So I wasn't a volunteer?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'd like it much better if that were true and they did their best to make us believe that. But it's just as much a lie now as it was seventeen years ago."

"But Stryker told me…"

I cut him off. "Stryker! What the hell do you have to do with that fucking maniac?" I roared, my instincts starting to flare up.

"Nothing!" He yelled. "He attacked some friends of mine. Those of us that were left went to rescue them and he was there." He clenched his hands and you could almost see the tips of his claws itching to get out. "He's dead now."

I couldn't help but smile. "Good." I lit a cigarette and sat back. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer person, really." I took a deep drag on the cigarette and let it out, blowing a couple smoke rings. "So what did he tell you?"

"He told me I volunteered for the procedure. That I don't want to know about my past or the kind of person I was. That I was an animal and he just gave me claws."

"Yeah right." I snorted. "He would've taken credit for inventing the wheel if he thought he could get away with it."

"What?" He said, looking at me sharply. "What are you sayin'?"

Damn, he really didn't remember shit, did he? I leaned forward and put my hand over his knuckles. "Logan, you always had the claws. He just made them deadlier."

He snatched his hand away from me and stood up, prowling back and forth in confusion. "That's just fuckin' great." He growled. "I'm even less human than I thought."

"Yeah well, you're not the only one, sweetie." I stubbed my cigarette out viciously. "People like us were his favorites."

He stopped pacing andand whipped his head around. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Me." I said simply.

"You? You're like me?" He slowly sank back to the sofa, still staring at me.

"Well, not exactly. I have a healing factor, but nothing like yours. If I get a little cut, it takes about ten minutes to heal. Deeper wounds take longer." I leaned back into the sofa and put my feet on the edge of the coffee table, resting my hands on my knees. "But I got my code name because of these." Two-inch claws slid out from underneath my normal finger and toenails. They curved under and came to wicked points just like a cat. His eyes widened and I put them away. "I have fast reflexes and agility, so I always land on my feet, so to speak. I also have another ability. I call it my nine lives, although it's been more than that."

"Nine lives?"

"Yeah, you know. 'Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back'? Cats have nine lives?" He still looked confused. "If you kill me, I come back."

"What, you immortal or somethin'?"

"No, I'm sure I can be killed permanently if you remove something important, like my heart or my brain. But if I take a fatal wound, I die, totally flat line on the heart monitor, EEG and zero respiration. Then, 24 hours later, I wake up again as good as new." I grabbed my beer and took a long drink. "I've been killed in just about every way you can imagine, from gunshots to drowning and I always come back."

"How do you know it's not just your healin' factor kickin' you into some kinda coma? Hell, it even happens to me if I get hurt enough."

"Because I flat line. And I can tell when I'm dead. I know it sounds weird, but it's true. I just know that I'm not alive anymore, I'm just waiting to come back." I shook my head. "It's hard to explain. Just…trust me, ok?"

"If you always come back, how long have you been around?"

I laughed bitterly. "Too fucking long, that's for damn sure." I finished my beer and fished out another one. "But we're supposed to be talking about you, remember?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I'm startin' to think maybe I was better off, not knowin'."

"All knowledge is worth having." I said with a smile. "I read that in a book somewhere."

"Fine." He replied and lit up a cigar. I pushed the ashtray towards him. "So were we the only ones like us? And why was he so interested in us?"

"I think he brought in one or two more just before we got away. I overheard them talking about new subjects, anyway. But he was interested in us because we would be able to survive his procedure."

"You mean the adamantium?" I nodded. "But your claws looked like regular claws."

"They are. But he couldn't dothe adamantium on minebecause they're just like cat claws. They keep growing and sometimes they even fall out." I shuddered. "Hurts like a bitch. But had he covered them, they would have tried to keep growing underneath the metal and eventually would have crippled me or fallen out."

"So what was he hopin' to do with us once he was done?"

"Truth?" He nodded. "Stryker was the very definition of mad scientist. Unfortunately, he had multi-government funding so he could afford to be madder than most." I turned in my seat to face him. "But we weren't just test subjects to him, we were more. He was using us to make living weapons."

"He was torturin' people to make weapons out of 'em?"

"Yeah, the ultimate weapon, someone who couldn't be stopped, couldn't be killed and wouldn't leave any witnesses behind. Someone who could get past any defense, any opposition and achieve any goal. Someone they could break completely, who would kill without remorse. The perfect killer." I shuddered with barely controlled rage. "They thought they had it with me, til you came along."

"And you were cooperatin' with them?" He roared, jumping to his feet. His shoulders were hunched forward and I could see that was barely controlling his rage.

Ijumped to my feet. "NO!" I shouted in his face, a neat trick since he was over a foot taller than me. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. "No, I didn't. He'd tried recruiting me about a year earlier, but I turned him down, said the military life wasn't my style and I was close to getting my degree. Besides, I had a family, a daughter, to think about. I couldn't just take off. But his sell was pretty convincing, that he wanted to create a special unit of mutants that would protect people from threats that even normal Special Forces couldn't handle." I sat back down, covering my face with my hands. Logan calmed enough to sit as well. "A year later, I got a call from my daughter's school. Someone had picked her up claiming to be a neighbor that I sent because I had to work late. I was frantic, I would never have let anyone else pick her up, come hell or high water. I was grabbing my jacket and my keys when the phone rang. The caller said he had Emma and that if I got the police involved it would take years to find all of her parts. I didn't know what else to do, so I asked what he wanted. He told me to meet him in two hours at the Bruce Peninsula National Park. I agreed and then rushed there as fast as I could. But they must have known I would try something, because they were there ahead of me. A man I only ever knew as Pierson showed me a Polaroid of Emma tied up with a gun to her head and a letter from Stryker. The letter basically said that they'd let her go, see that she was taken care of properly, but I had to join their program or they'd kill her. Hence the whole 'more or less' distinction. A lot less than more, but voluntarily in a twisted way." Angry tears formed in my eyes when I thought of that day, spilling hot down my cheeks. I looked up at Logan again, hoping he would understand. "What else could I do, Logan? What would you have done?"

The look on Logan's face was nothing short of complete loathing. I could tell it wasn't loathing for what I'd done, but for the men who had done it to us. "I don't know, darlin', I really don't. Probably the exact same thing." He sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes.

I grabbed my beer, but just rolled the bottle in my hands before I continued. "That was so long ago, it hardly seems real anymore. But it almost doesn't hurt to think about it these days." I sighed bitterly. "Ya know anyone who says time heals all wounds hasn't lived as long as we have. If everyone could have more than eighty years, they'd know."

"What do you mean? How old am I?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. You didn't like to talk about your past, even after…everything we did. But I did get a couple stories out of you about World War I."

Logan was still fairly dumbstruck, not sure how to process all of this information. "So how come you can remember everythin' and I can't?"

"I told you, I was there a lot longer than you. I was also more or less complacent. You…I remember they day they brought you in. They'd pumped you with so many tranqs it would have killed a normal man, but you were still moving and you were still shot up pretty bad. I knowhe had some telepaths that worked with him, usually during his 'procedures'. There was talk of some kind of chip that would cause memory loss. And they used lots of different drugs that affect memory." I shrugged. "I really don't know, maybe they used a combination of all three on you."

"So why don't I remember now?"

"No idea. Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you that it's better if you don't."

"No, I don't believe that."

I shrugged again. "Believe whatever makes you feel better. I've told you what I can about the why part."

We sat there in silence for a while as he took it all in. He sat there with his eyes closed, his brow furrowed in frustration. I was starting to feel really bad because I didn't have very much to offer him that was pleasant. Oh, a few months here and there, but nothing like the answers I knew he was looking for. He scrubbed his face, then opened his eyes and looked at me again. "So, if you didn't really associate with anyone, how come you know so much about me?"

"We were partners. Stryker paired us up to do his dirty work for him." I replied, once again very bitter. "Infiltration, spying, stuff like that."

"And by 'stuff like that' I'm guessin' you mean killin' people?"

"Well, he didn't give you metal claws so you'd never be without a steak knife." I said dryly.

Logan gave a bitter laugh and stubbed out his cigar. "You're pretty cavalier about this whole thing."

"What do you want from me? It was a long time ago. That's not who or what I am anymore." I lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply. "It's not who you are, either."

"Yeah well, I don't know who the fuck I was before all this, so I'm still no better off." He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the sofa. "I'm just so damn tired of it all." I nodded in agreement. We sat there in silence again for a moment before he continued. "So, partners huh?"

"Yeah. I'd done a few solo missions for them before you came along. Once they had you sufficiently cooperative, they started training you. After a few weeks, they put us together for sparring and when Stryker saw how well we worked together, he made us a team."

"They had you spar against me? I guess you do have nine lives."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I could take you down right now. I know all your weaknesses."

"Oh really?" He said, raising his eyebrow. "Name one."

"You're ticklish."

"Oh. Yeah, you got me there." He replied with a frown. "So what made him decide to make us a team?"

"For one, you had the brute strength that I was always lacking. But I have more agility than you do. That first sparring session was intense. There we were, the big bad Wolverine against little tiny Hellcat. You were getting so frustrated that you couldn't land anything on me that you finally popped out those claws of yours and started going for broke. I just smiled, slid all of mine out and waited for you to charge. As soon as you did, I just jumped on your back and raked the living hell out of you." I leaned over and put out my cigarette. "That's another reason behind my code name, you know. Stryker said I fought like a hellcat. I guess it's better than 'Fluffy'."

Logan laughed in earnest at that one. "Oh yeah, I can see it now. 'Do what we want or we'll send Fluffy in to finish the job!' Yeah, real scary name there."

I smiled back. "Hey, it works for that big three-headed dog in 'Harry Potter', so why not me?" I finished my beer and grabbed another, just starting to feel pleasantly buzzed.

"Can't stay serious for long, can you?" Logan asked, quirking his eyebrow at me. "But you still haven't answered all of my questions and half the shit you've told me just brings up more."

"Ask away, I'm not going anywhere."

He took a drink. "Why did he think we were so special? I mean, besides the healin' factor or whatever. Or was it all kinds of mutants?"

"No, not even close. Mutants he could get anywhere. He used to bring in others just to test to destruction. No, the ones he wanted the most are what he called 'feral' mutants. People with animal-like mutations, figuring they'd be easier to turn into killers, people with an already predatory instinct hardwired into them" I curled my feet under me, shifting position so I was a little further away from him. "Anyway, since I was so quiet, they figured I could do more than just kill, I could sneak in anywhere and plant bombs, steal stuff. They taught me how to circumvent just about any security system. And yes, they taught me how to kill."

He turned away from me with a growl. 'So that's what he meant when he called me an animal' He muttered under his breath, then turned back to me. "So what about me? How did he know about me?"

"That's the part I'm not sure about. See, I might have been his Golden Goose for a while, but one day he made finding you his ultimate goal. And you were wild after the tranqs wore off. I don't know what happened to you, but you were beyond feral, you were insane."

"Insane? That's comfortin'."

"Hey you're the one that wanted truth. If you don't like it, leave." I looked him in the eyes, secretly hoping he wouldn't leave. His brow furrowed at that point, almost like he was on the verge of remembering something else, something new. I all but held my breath, not wanting to break the spell. Whatever it was must have eluded him, because he shook his head and drank some more beer. "So did I ever tell you what happened before they got me?"

"No. Like I said, you didn't like to talk about your past and I was never one to pry. But I do know that they kept working you over with drugs and the telepaths, so I'm sure they were trying to keep you from remembering who you really were. It just seemed like no matter what they did to you, you'd always start to remember." I shook my head. "I don't know, maybe that's your hyperactive healing factor at work, trying to get past whatever they did to you up there."

"Doesn't seem to be workin'. I still don't remember shit." He said bitterly. "Anythin' else?"

"Well, they started using all the same bullshit lines on you they used on me. Helping people, special operations, top secret, blahblahblah. I didn't actually meet you face to face for about six weeks, when they decided to pit us against each other for sparring. Not for a good long meeting, at any rate. At first, they didn't know how well your healing factor works. They knew you healed from injury from when they brought you in, but you were so full of lead they didn't realize how fast it really worked. They'd given you basic training and conditioning, then threw you in that first fight against me." I finished my beer, but didn't reach for another just yet. "You kept saying you didn't want to hurt me and you'd go easy on me. By then, I was beyond caring about anything except seeing my daughter again, so I was almost the perfect little soldier. I clawed the shit out of your back and you went down hard. You screamed and then looked over your shoulder at me with nothing but rage in your eyes. I stopped in shock because the cuts I just gave you were not shallow by any means, yet they were closing before my very eyes. No matter what they'd made of me by then, I knew what was in store for you and I have never pitied anyone more than I pitied you at that moment." I took a deep breath and chanced a glance at him. He was still looking at me intently, as though trying to remember and coming up short.

"So how long after that did they…alter me?" He asked, rubbing his knuckles absently.

"They didn't do it at first, adamantium isn't cheap and it's not easy to process, so they had to wait. In the meantime, they trained us together. You and I would back each other up and do whatever they wanted us to do. Sometimes it was just sneaky crap, like stealing files from someone or setting up surveillance. Other times we were sent in to eliminate what he referred to as 'hostile targets'. You know, people who were getting too close to the truth about his little projects. Shit, we must have done thirty or forty ops for them before they had everything they needed to alter you. Just over a year we worked together, you and me. Of course, they always had to do a little reinforcement of your training every time we went out."

"So you're sayin' I didn't go willingly, at all? They had to what, fuck with my head, shoot me full of drugs?"

"Every time. Like I said, it might be because of your healing factor, I don't know for sure. But one thing they never got out of your head was that killer instinct of yours." He looked at me sharply. "Now, I'm not saying you were always a killer, but I always got the feeling that there's someone out there that you want dead very very badly, Logan. I don't know who and I don't know why, but it was there." I decided on another beer after all. "At any rate, just before they altered you, they had a couple people working you over with drugs and I'm sure the telepaths were in on it. The night before they did it, it was like you were a completely blank slate."

"Why the hell would he do that? I mean, to this day, I can pick up almost any weapon, you name it, and use it like it's part of me. Quarterstaff, sword, just about every kind of gun, anythin'. Wouldn't gettin' rid of that make it harder to train me?"

"Look, it's not like William Stryker was the very model of sanity. He wanted you to be a killer but on his terms." I opened my beer and took a long drink. "Well, at least you do remember something, even if it just weapon stuff. Better than nothing."

He just grunted at that. "All right, then what happened?"

"The next day, Stryker took you to the chamber of horrors and got to work. But a few things happened that day that he didn't count on."

"Yeah, I went berserk, killed a bunch of people and took off naked in the snow." He grimaced. "I actually do remember that part."

"Well, that's not all of it, not even half of it." I ran my fingers through my hair again. "A few days before, I was in the surveillance lab, going over schematics for a new system the Russians had come up with. No one actually knew I was in there, I'd gone on my own time." Logan looked at me curiously. "See, although we couldn't leave the actual base building when not on assignment, we weren't confined to cells or anything either. Kind of a loose definition of freedom, as it were. Sure, the doors on our rooms weren't locked so we could leave when we wanted, but they could also come in when they wanted, too. I guess they figured if we thought we had freedom, we'd never try to escape. In reality, the only thing keeping me there was my daughter's safety. Well, right before they…augmented you, I was in the lab, looking shit over. I heard the door in the next lab open and Stryker walked in with another guy. I missed the first part, but I did hear enough…"

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_"So, you're telling me that her brat's dead?" Stryker said, a tinge of concern in his voice._

_"Yes sir." Said the other man. "She didn't have her mother's resilience and couldn't handle the last bit of testing. Pity, we could have used another feral around here. Ah well, Hellcat'll be around for a while, she can have a whole litter if she wants to, right?"_

_"You know, that's not a bad idea. If we could get her to mate with Wolverine and that healing factor breeds true, we'd never have to look for any more of them. I'll have to talk to the others about this and…" Stryker's voice faded away as they left the room._

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"I don't know how long before that my Emma had died. That bastard lied to me about her to keep me complacent and it worked for a really long time. Hell, I didn't even know she'd be a mutant, although I had worried about it. But from that moment on, I knew I was going to escape that place and get revenge on Stryker and his merry band of torturers. "Mate" with you indeed! Like we were champion breeding hounds or some shit. I just needed a plan. I was hoping to get your help, hoping there was still enough of you left that you'd help me and come with me. But before I got the chance to talk to you, they stuck you in the tank."

He looked at me with a pained expression on his face. "Angela, I need to know. What happened that day? All I get is bits and pieces, little flashes and pain, but nothin' that makes sense!"

"What the hell do you think they did? They cut you open, injected molten metal on your bones and watched the wounds close before their eyes. They kept you awake for it because anesthetic just doesn't work for long on you, but the scientists assured themselves that the solution in the tank would be more than numbing enough. And I'm sure they had at least one telepath there, keeping you calm. What they didn't count on was you adapting to whatever they put in the solution in the tank. Oh, it held long enough for them to finish your bones and make blades out of your claws, but barely. The only thing that might have gone wrong would have been with the telepath. You see, what they did while someone was in that tank was basically tell them that they were doing something else, I dunno, having a picnic or skiing or whatever. But the telepaths were always told to keep their eyes closed. I'd be willing to bet that your telepath opened his eyes for some reason, saw what was happening and actually fed that back to you. But it would have been enough. If that's what happened, then you saw, you FELT at least part of it happening, he would have lost his hold on you, and you went berserk."

"So I was right, I killed a bunch of people like some fuckin' animal, just tore through them and ran off."

"I won't deny that, but it wasn't just you. I was in my room, trying to figure out what I was going to say to convince you to help me when I heard the screaming. I ran down to the lab and there you were, just getting out of the tank and slashing at random. I won't lie to you, Logan, not now. I saw this as MY chance to get away. With all that confusion, who'd notice if I left? But I couldn't stand what they did to you, did to ME, so…I jumped into the fight." I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees, clasping my hands in front of me. "I probably killed just as many people as you did, but for me it was different. I killed them because I WANTED to, I wanted to watch them bleed, wanted them to beg for their lives. I don't know how long it went on, probably less than a minute all told, but it felt like forever. You were lashing out at something that had tortured you, it's a normal response. You were defending yourself. I murdered them in cold blood and I liked it." I shook my head, then stood, wrapping my arms around myself. I walked over to the window, placing my forehead on the cool glass. "Anyway, you ran out and I followed, hot on your heels. You'd already started to calm down a little, but you were still pretty fucked up. And you were naked. I knew we had to get away before someone came after us, so I did the only thing I could think of and made myself your prey. I still had fatigues on and I was covered in blood, I was hoping you'd mistake me for one of them and follow me. I wasn't wrong."

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_You're running through the snow, mile after mile, wondering if he was ever going to get cold or collapse from exhaustion. You've already been running almost full out for four hours, how much farther can you go? Are you far enough away yet, can they track you this far? You can't take a chance, have to keep running and keep Wolverine following you or you're both going to be redesignated as "test to destruction". And when you're this hard to kill, that could take a long, long time._

_Suddenly, you're slipping, falling, what the fuck is this? The sudden stop brings tears to your eyes as you feel the skin on your palms peel away. That'll take a little while to heal. Wolverine has slipped too, he's somewhere to the left, you can hear him panting. No, not panting, is he crying? Has he finally snapped out of it? Still, you have to be cautious, he's still pretty dangerous right now. You creep over to him carefully, only to find him curled around himself, claws out trying as hard as he can to cut his own wrists, but the wounds keep healing. Tears come to your eyes, you know just how he feels. You extend your hand carefully, whispering his name._

_"Who's there? Get the fuck away from me or I'll kill you, I swear!"_

_"Wolverine, it's me, Hellcat. Come on, we have to find shelter, it's getting dark and I don't know if they're following us."_

_"Fuck you, 'Cat. Leave me alone. Maybe I'll get lucky and die."_

_"No, Wolverine, I can't do that. Come on, we'll get you some clothes and plan our next move. Come on, we don't have much time."_

_Precious minutes are wasted getting him out of the snow, but finally he relents. You've fallen into a tree-lined ravine, the sides are pretty steep and there's no easy way back up. Not that you'd normally worry about it, but the animal in you says "this is cover", so you stay down there. You detect a sudden shift in the wind, a slight variance in temperature and Wolverine says "I smell snow." You finally get out of the trees and find a sketchy path through the woods as snow starts swirling around you. You follow it, not sure what you're going to do once you see where it leads. But finally, a lucky break after all this shit. There's a small cabin here, maybe someone's hunting cabin or ski retreat. You don't really care, you're cold and hungry and Wolverine's still naked_

_Using the skills they gave you, you break in and find the place blissfully empty. A little searching and you find blankets to pile on Wolverine while you get a fire started. As he thaws, you explore the tiny house further. Two small bedrooms, a small bathroom, a kitchenette attached to the living area. One bedroom is obviously for guests, as there's nothing in it. The other has a closet full of hunting clothes: jeans, t-shirts, flannels. You also discover a phone and an address book. You take clothing out to Wolverine, who dresses almost absentmindedly, then continues to stare at the flames. On the inside front cover of the address book, you find the name "Paul Jenkins" and a phone number, the same as the one on the phone. Thumbing through it, you find a "George Jenkins". You call him and discover he's the owner's brother. You explain that you and your boyfriend were hiking and got caught in a storm, found this cabin and took shelter. George seems amazed that we're alive, this is the worst storm in 20 years, looks to last a week at least and it's part of a system. We could see snow up here for the nextthree months, almost non-stop. Fortunately, Paul is there, says to stay as long as we need to, don't worry about supplies, he's just glad we found his little place. You thank him and hang up, then yank the phone out of the wall._

_Wolverine is still staring at the fire. You try to talk to him, but he seems unresponsive. Sighing, you find the pantry is well stocked and there's a door in the floor of it. You open it up and find a combination root and wine cellar. "Well, at least we can celebrate our freedom" you say to yourself. You bring up a couple bottles, pop them open and hand one to Wolverine. Finally, a reaction as he grasps the neck and drinks deep. You know you should probably eat first, but you're just so tired. You both sit there drinking, watching the fire and hoping you're safe. You're not sure how long it took, but eventually you both fall asleep in front of the fire, exhaustion taking its toll._

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"And that's how we made our escape. Mother Nature took pity on us and made it so no one could follow us for a long, long time." I closed my eyes, remembering the cold and the fear that they'd find us anyway. But I also remember other things and Logan somehow knew it. He always knew.

"So, what aren't you tellin' me? You're leavin' somethin' out that I think I should know."

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right, I am. I don't know if you need to know anything else. We got out, that should be enough."

He moved so fast I had no time to react. He was off the couch and spinning me around, grabbing me by my arms and shaking me. "Fuck that, I want to KNOW! I have a right to know! Just finish the damn story!"

"Stop it, you're hurting me!" I screamed. He stared at me intently for another moment, then shoved me away. "Fine, you want to know so bad." I sat back down on the sofa, curling into the corner. After a moment, he sat back in his spot on the end. "George Jenkins was right, that storm lasted about a week. It was followed two days later by another and another after that, for almost three months solid. Hell, it had to have been almost April before we got out of there and by then, Alkali Lake had been abandoned, the project terminated. But we didn't know that, so we were deathly afraid they'd find us. I don't know how they missed that place, but they did."

Logan pondered this for a moment, but once again turned his steely gaze to me. "Yeah, fine, we got away. But what aren't you tellin' me, huh? What're you leavin' out?" He leaned toward me, still angry but with more than a hint of desperation. "I have waited over fifteen years for this, damn it!"

I sighed again, suddenly exhausted. "That first week was rough on you, Logan. You barely slept, I had to practically force feed you. Half the time I thought you were catatonic. Finally, on the fifth day, you just dropped. I guess you were just so exhausted you couldn't go on any more. I was so grateful, I just fell asleep, too, curled up on the floor in front of the fire next to you. I don't know how many hours passed, at least nine or so, when you started with your nightmares. I could guess what it was, I'd had them too. I woke up and rolled over, tried to wake you, but that was the second biggest mistake of my life."

"What was the first?" He asked.

"Not running to Mexico after the first time Stryker approached me."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, I tried to wake you, but it wasn't easy. You finally opened your eyes and I thought you'd woken up, but I was wrong. You screamed, popped your claws and started slashing. I was still half asleep myself, I wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. You caught me right across the throat and you killed me."

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**AN:** Oops! Another cliffhanger! Special thanks to anyone who's reviewed...they're almost better than dark chocolate at making me happy...:) Also, thanks to my fiance for beta reading and letting me know if i use the 'f' word too many times in a sentence (if there is such a thing). Also, extra special love to my sis, thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Bugger that, everyone should know by now that, much as I would like to, I don't own Logan or anything else X-Men...however, if someone can have him bathed and brought to my tent, that would be stinkin' lovely...:)

Chapter 4.

(Angela)

Logan paled, swallowed hard and turned away from me, his fists clenched not in anger, but pain. I knew what he was thinking, because I'd thought it too in my life. Because of what we are, we only bring pain and suffering to those around us. But I'd spent the better part of the pastten years trying to overcome that. Logan, it seems, was wallowing in it. When he finally looked back at me, the naked pain on his face was heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry…I mean, it sounds so fuckin' stupid after all this time but, I'm sorry."

"Logan, don't worry about it. It was a long time ago and hey, I have nine lives, remember?"

"Lucky for you. How many of them am I responsible for?"

"Just the one, I promise. But back then, you didn't remember that. In fact, I'm not sure you were ever told about that. But I remember dying that night just like I remember all the other times. Your claw caught me in the throat and I knew my better-than-most healing would never get this before I bled out. I remember I said your name again and you seemed to wake up then. You looked down, saw what you'd done and you backed away into the corner, just saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again. I tried to tell you not to worry, but you were already so far away and everything was going black. I remember when I stopped breathing and I died. Everything was quiet and there's always this sense of waiting when I'm dead. I know how bizarre that sounds, but it's true. Finally, I could hear again, then I was breathing and I opened my eyes. You were still in the same place, still staring at me when I lifted my head and looked at you. There was so much blood, my blood, all over the place and all over you, but when I looked at you it was like you couldn't see me. I crawled over to you, touched you and you snapped out of it. I could tell you couldn't believe your eyes and you kept asking me how, how, over and over again. 'They like us hard to kill, you see' is what I said to you." I swallowed hard, looking away from him and hoping he'd let me stop there. No such luck.

"There's more. I know there is." He leaned over and put a hand on my leg, not threatening but firm. "Come on, what are you leavin' out?"

"Logan, it's been a long night. You know what happened to you, how you got away, isn't that enough?"

"No damn it, it's not!" He roared, once again on his feet and prowling back and forth. Wolverine never paced, he's far too graceful for that. He stopped and looked at me. "Look, you're the first person I've met in fifteen years who has even one sliver of my past that I don't want to kill on sight. You can't leave it there. What happened?"

I swallowed hard again, not sure I wanted to relive the rest. But I could see it meant a lot to him, so I went on. "Yeah, all right…"

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_"They like us hard to kill, you see."_

_Wolverine looks at you, like he can't believe you're still alive. He doesn't know how and he doesn't know why, but you're alive. He saw you bleed out in front of him, dead because of him, yet here you are, warm, alive, breathing. Before you can react, he's grabbed you by the arms and he's kissing you. Gods help you; you're kissing him back. You're both still covered with your blood, but you don't care. Your claws come out and you tear the shirt off his back; he growls,ripping yours off and tossing it aside. Somehow, you both realize that fucking in a huge pool of blood is beyond gross and he's carrying you to the bedroom. His pants come off, somewhere along the way yours have been removed as well and you're grasping at one another as though your lives depend on it. Maybe, right now, they do._

_You both go feral, biting and growling, but it's always been in both your natures, right? And it's not like you can cause each other permanent damage after all. He'll heal a lot faster than you, but you still heal a lot faster than most. He's not gentle, not by a longshot, but you wouldn't want this any other way. Your claws dig into his back as he grabs a handful of your hair, pulling your head back and looking into your eyes. You realize for the first time that you don't know his real name and he doesn't know yours. Gasping, you look at him and say "Angela". He understands and growls "Logan" just before he enters you. Ultimately, it didn't matter because you don't say anything coherent for a very long time after that._

_Hours later, you both fall asleep again, but thankfully it's dreamless. He's awake before you are, lightly running his fingers up and down your arm. You smile and roll over, kissing him. Much to your delight, he smiles back._

_"Angela, huh? Never woulda thought you were an Angela. Doesn't suit ya."_

_"Yeah well, you don't seem the Logan type to me, so I guess we're even."_

_You lay there in silence for a long time, just enjoying this new facet to your partnership. But after a while, you start to feel uncomfortable with it and try to roll away. Try, but Logan doesn't let you. He turns you back over, a look of concern on his face._

_"Angela, what's wrong? Talk to me."_

_You sigh. "Logan, why did you do this?"_

_"Do what?"_

_"Decide that now was a good time to sleep with me? Why not before, on a mission or something? Or back at the base? Or when we first got here? Why now? I know you thought about it before, we both did. Why after I died and came back?"_

_Now it's his turn to sigh. "I saw you there, drownin' on your own blood and I did it. Me. I'm just a fuckin' killer animal and I killed the only person who'd ever been kind to me. I watched your blood pour out and I wished like hell it was me dyin' instead of you. I sat there all night, all day, willin' myself to die so I wouldn't be alone again. You saved my worthless hide for some damn reason and I turned around and killed you for it. Then, like a miracle, you opened your eyes. I thought it was a post-mortem thing, that your eyes opened so they could look at me, accuse me of killin' you. Then you touched me, you said my name and I couldn't believe you were real. I kept askin' how this could be and you told me they liked us hard to kill. But I didn't care about that, I just knew you were alive and I wasn't alone." He swallows hard, like the next thing he wants to say is the most difficult thing he's ever said. "You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, sittin' there alive like that. Part of me died when you did an' that part of me came back with you. I don't know what the hell that means, but I know that the part of me you brought back with you just wanted you so much I couldn't help myself."_

_The tears pour down your face, surprising you both. You thought they'd trained the tears out of you a long time ago. In spite of that you still manage to smile. "Well, Logan, looks like you're an animal after all. But you're MY kind of animal." And you kiss him again._

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Logan stared at the floor, not sure how to process this. But he finally sat next to me, very close to me actually. He didn't say anything for a long time, I'm not sure what was going through his head. I shifted my weight a bit and he finally looked up, but I looked away.

"Angela, look at me." He turned to me, leaning over a bit. "Please, look at me." I was afraid to, afraid of him for the first time ever, mostly because of the tears threatening to fall. But, I looked at him. "That's why you were so pissed I don't remember you, isn't it? Because we were lovers, probably from that point til the snow stopped, right?"

"Bravo, give the man a cigar." I said, allowing a little ice to creep into my voice. "It's not easy for a girl to hear something like that, you know. Damages the ego."

"Yeah well, if it helps any, I wish like hell I could remember that part."

"Yeah me too."

He settled back, leaning his head on his fist. "Ya know, it's funny. I remember a bit of what happened before the escape, but I don't remember anything after it, not really. It's so damn frustratin'!"

"Logan, there are so many things that could be keeping you from remembering. Maybe one of the telepaths managed to put in a really good block. Or maybe they got that chip thingy figured out and put it in your head while you were in the tank, I don't know. Hell, for all I know, your mind simply doesn't want to deal with it and you're unconsciously blocking it yourself. I do know that you're not crazy, but that whole experience was brutal and caused you nothing but pain. And whether or not I like it, I'm a part of that pain. I should have known better than to tell you this much, but I didn't think about that."

"So what, you think I'm outta my mind?"

"In a way, yes you are. But it's going away, you're starting to remember. If you hadn't dropped in on my bar, I would still come back in your mind eventually. Then you'd probably go to hell and back to see if I was ok, especially if all you remembered was killing me. This way, when it does come back on its own, you won't have another corpse to torture yourself over."

That had obviously never dawned on him, as evidenced by the understanding in his eyes. The thought kept him still for a long moment, then miraculously, he smiled. "Ya know, you're right. I woulda never thought of it that way."

I smiled back at him. "I'm glad one of us is still thinking." I slid forward on the sofa, back to the little box and it's few treasures. "Anyway, this ring was a gift from you a couple weeks after we were dug out. It's not a wedding ring or anything, but you had one just like it. You also gave me the little cat as a joke gift about a month later." Picking up the photo, I looked at it for a long time before handing it over. "This is the only other thing I have left. It was taken three months after the blizzard and two weeks before we…went our separate ways."

The photo showed Logan and I in front of a waterfall, but even I can't remember where anymore. I have my arms around him, my cheek pressed to his chest and he's kissing me on top of my head. Except for my hair being longer now and streaked with my color of the week, we looked exactly the same as we did in that photo. I remember it being the very last time we were happy together, before one of Stryker's men saw us and the pursuit for us began again. Logan looked at it, his brow creased as though he did remember something about this. Again, I stayed silent, not wanting to break the spell.

"Wait, I remember this. Well, kind of. I was there with someone. I can't see her face...your face, but I know she was important to me. And I remember sittin' at the base of that waterfall, just holdin' someone and knowin' that as long as she was there, I'd be all right." He squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating on the memory. Tears streamed down my face as he spoke, as that was exactly what he'd said to me that day. I hoped he would remember more and this time I was rewarded. "I remember tellin' her I'd always take care of her like she took care of me. And I remember…I remember I loved her." He looked up at me and then gently placed the photo in the box. "I don't remember everythin', not even close, but I remember that day, that moment. And I remember that it didn't last."

"No, it didn't. Three days later, one of Stryker's guys saw us on the pier in Windsor. Two days after that, they hit the place we'd been staying and we barely got away. We ran, stayed barely ahead of them for a little while, a few weeks or so, then decided we should go our separate ways to make us harder to catch. I don't know if they ever got you, but they never got me. Maybe they did and that's why you can't remember so much of what happened and you can't remember me. But I managed to get into the states and I finally settled in southern California for a while, waited til it was safe to come back this way. I never made it back to Canada, so I stopped here, opened RnR and the rest is my history." I wiped the tears from my eyes, then collected my treasures and put them back in the box. "For years, I hoped I'd see you somewhere, at a concert or in the park or something. I even went back to Alkali Lake a few years ago, thinking maybe you'd be around there somewhere. Hell, I even went back to Jenkins' cabin on the off chance you'd be around." I gave a small laugh. "Ya know, I bought that place from him right after that visit, thinking I might have the guts to go stay there some time. But it's so empty without you, I couldn't bear it."

I stood and crossed back to the cabinet, replacing the box on the shelf and locking the doors. Logan still sat on the couch, looking deep in thought. Part of me desperately wanted to throw myself into his arms, to hear his breathing and feel his strength, but part of me just wanted him out of my life again so I didn't have to grieve for him all over. Before I could decide what to do, he made up my mind for me.

As I crossed to the couch, he stood up, closing the gap between us. He looked down at me for a long time, then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. Suddenly, the wall I had put up in my heart collapsed and a sob escaped my throat as my arms went around his waist. I don't know how long we stood there, but eventually his arms relaxed and I knew he was looking down at me again, but I didn't have the guts to look up.

"Logan, don't tell me you're leaving me again. I can't bear it. And I could probably find a doctor around here that'll cut my heart out for the right price so I don't have to live with it being broken."

He placed a finger under my chin and tilted my face up. "Darlin', the last thing in the world I want to do is leave you again." He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me softly, the first time I can remember him ever doing that. "C'mon, let's see if we can't jar my memory."

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**AN: **Thanks again for the lovely reviews! Keep 'em coming, they make me do the happy dance! I'll have chapter 5 up soon, then I'll be going camping for the weekend and won't have chapter 6 up until Sunday night/Monday morning at the earliest. Super special thanks to Zac (my fiance) for being a speedy beta-reader and helping me minimize your suspense!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Logan, much to my dismay...I also don't own any other X-Man stuff, people or locations...20th Century Fox and Marvel get all the cool stuff...

Chapter 5.

(Logan)

_The sound of the waterfall is so very soothing. She leans against your chest and you put your arms around her, feeling for the first time in so long that everything just might be ok. A sudden breeze blows a fine mist from the waterfall into your face and you close your eyes, turning your face into its cooling embrace. You sigh and kiss the top of her head. "Darlin', do you think it's safe out there yet? For us?"_

_She turns to look at you. "I don't know. I hope so. I mean, we ran into the teeth of the worst blizzard that area has seen for years and no matter how hard we are to kill, I'm sure they were hoping it did their dirty work for them. And you heard the reports; they're still finding bodies. I'm sure they're hoping two of them will be us. We left that cabin in the exact state we found it and we left while it was still snowing hard enough to cover our tracks. We've not settled in one place long enough for anyone to trail us and we've doubled and tripled back on that trail as much as we can. But we don't know everything they did to us. For all we know, they invented some kind of tracking technology and stuck it in us somewhere and all they have to do is ask the right satellite and they'll have us again."_

_"Nah, I don't think they did that. We wouldn't have made it out of the woods alive if they had, you know that." You sigh again. "Angela, there might be a day where we'll have to split up, make it harder for them to get us both. One of us has to be out here, away from them. There's still so much I don't remember, you're the one with the information, so I'm willin' to bet they'll want to get their hands on you before they worry too much about me."_

_"Gee, thanks for the shudder. When I want to be depressed, I'll remember to ask you."_

_"I'm serious darlin'. There are times when it's damn hard for me to even remember how the hell we got outta there, much less how we made it here. I can do things but I can't remember where or when I learned them. The part the really scares me is that I can do things that I just know I learned before they got me. How did they do this to me? More important, why? I know you have your 'ultimate weapon' theory and I'm sure that's at least part of it. But why would they want me to forget how to use all those weapons?"_

_She turns to you and kisses you gently. "Logan, whatever it is you were before all of this, I have no doubt in my heart and soul that you were, you ARE, a good man. You are not a born killer. I'd say you're more like a born protector. Just look at the things you've done to ensure my safety over yours. Would a heartless killer ever do something like that?"_

_"Sure, to lure his prey into a false sense of security while biding his time for the perfect moment to take her out."_

_She gives you a playful slap on the shoulder. "Bastard. You know what I mean. Logan, I don't know what all they did to you, I didn't see most of it. I had other things to keep me going and as soon as they were gone, I was just as off the deep end as you were when we escaped. But whatever it was, it's still working on you at least a little. There are things they wanted you to forget, forever, and I think I know why. If there is an 'ultimate weapon', then it would be you."_

_"I thought you were s'posed to make me feel better about myself, sweetheart."_

_"Just shut up and listen. I might have the knowledge, but you have the power. I can be killed, we both know that. I normally come back, but what if my heart was missing or my brain? What if they got me, cut me open and just put all my parts in jars? Would I still come back? Deep down inside, I know I wouldn't. I have to be intact, all my parts where they belong or else I'm really done for. My ninth life is gone and I think they know that. But you? I've seen you get shot point blank in the face and come back. Remember that op in China? You fell 7 stories into a concrete parking lot and you walked away. I don't think you're hard to kill, I think you're IMPOSSIBLE to kill. Yeah, I have their secrets. But you have the power to hunt them all down and make them hurt very, very much. So it's better for you to forget what they did, who they are, because they're afraid that if you remember, they're done for."_

_You sit back and contemplate what she said, wondering if she might just be right about this. The sun is warm, the day beautiful and even though tomorrow you may die, today everything is perfect._

_"Well, we'll have to see what happens, won't we?" You say, shifting your weight and standing up. "Right now, everythin' is perfect and I wanna make sure we can remember that in the future, that we did have one perfect day." You slip a camera out of your pocket and find a nice rock shelf to put it on. You set the timer and rush back to her, putting your arms around her. She leans her cheek against your chest, right over your heart, and you smile and kiss the top of her head. You hear the click of the camera, freezing that moment for eternity._

_You retrieve the camera and stuff it back in your pocket, then return to her side and wrap your arms around her again. "I just want you to know that I owe you my life. And part of me believes that as long as I have you, everythin' will always be all right." You pull away and look into her eyes. "I swear, I will always take care of you, no matter what happens. I don't think anythin' will be able to keep us apart, no matter what happens to us after this."_

_She smiles and kisses you soundly. "Yeah well, I owe you my life, too. I wouldn't have made it outta that forest alive without you. Hell, I wouldn't have made it out of a lot of things alive without you. I love you, Logan. If you never remember anything else, try to remember that."_

_"I'll do my best, you got my word."_

_One perfect day._

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I woke up slowly, a little disoriented, aware that someone had just rolled over and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist and snuggled into my back. I was also aware that we were both naked. I groaned and rolled over, opening my eyes. Angela just smiled and snuggled into my shoulder. "Mmm, what time is it?" I asked, pulling her close.

"A little after 6, I think, why?"

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, that's unholy!" I said with a groan. "Birds ain't even awake yet."

"Yes they are." She replied, then sat up. "Sorry if I woke you. I'm not used to having company. Makes me sleep light."

"Shit darlin', I'm sorry. That was the best sleep I've had in a long time. First time in ages I haven't dreamed about what they did to me." I settled back and smiled. "I could get used to this."

She ran a hand through her hair and yawned before turning to me with a smile. "Glad to be of service." She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "Go back to sleep. I have so much shit to do today, I was gonna get up pretty soon anyway." She got up and put on a very attractive red silk robe with a dragon embroidered on the back. "By the way, my offer to trash my apartment is now rescinded. Try not to break anything before I get back."

I mumbled something to her, then rolled back over and closed my eyes. Whoever this woman was, she certainly had a good effect on me. I vaguely heard her leave the room and close the door softly behind her.

When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming through the window leaving a bright patch on the floor. I hadn't really paid attention to the room when we came in here last night, so I took stock now. The same silvery gray carpet was on the floor and the walls were just a touch lighter, but the rest of the room was done in rich jewel tones of ruby, emerald and sapphire. It made me wonder why she confined all the color in her life to the place she probably spent the least amount of time. I made a mental note to ask her later.

I lay there for a few minutes before the smell of coffee permeated the room. I tried to ignore it, but it kept insinuating itself into my consciousness until I couldn't ignore it any more. With a sigh, I got up and found my jeans after a few minutes of searching. I made my way to the kitchen where the coffee pot was just finishing up and saw a note taped to the front of it.

_Logan,_

_Hope you had a good sleep. If memory serves, you'll be a lot more cheerful once you drink this coffee. There's stuff in the fridge, help yourself to anything you want. If you feel like it, give me a call later and I'll show you my pride and joy. Ricky should be in the bar by noon, he can give you directions._

_Angela_

Her cell phone number was written at the bottom of the note with a little heart drawn next to it. I chuckled a little at that. Such a girly thing to do for someone who was a lot more like her code name than I'm sure she realized. She'd left a mug next to the coffee and I poured myself a cup before raiding the rest of the kitchen for breakfast.

Once I was finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, I decided to take a good long shower. Her bathroom continued the monochrome theme as the majority of the apartment, but she managed to keep the place from being bleak in spite of that. It was also a bit larger than I expected and I wondered if she'd remodeled this place as well as the bar downstairs. Otherwise, I don't know how she would have fit the huge tub and the separate six-jet shower in there. I stripped off my jeans and climbed in there, turning on the water as hot as I could stand it. I stood there for a long time, eyes closed, just letting the water pummel me.

So much had happened in the past couple of days. I'm still not sure what made me decide to cross into Canada at Windsor instead of using the Buffalo crossing when I left the mansion. A poet or a priest might have called it fate, but I am neither of those things. I just had a strong instinct to come here to cross the border. Maybe there was something buried in this twisted thing I called a brain that was trying to be remembered. I still don't know to this day.

I opened my eyes and looked around the shower. She had an impressive collection of bathing stuff, which is something I'll never understand about women if I live to be a thousand years old. I mean, it's a shower for fuck's sake, it's not like you need more than one kind of soap. It wasn't until I was rummaging through all this crap that it hit me. Almost everything she had in here was either unscented or had natural fragrances to them. I cocked my head to one side, wondering if she was allergic to the scented stuff, but there was something prickling in the back of my mind. I stood there in the steam, head cocked to one side with a bottle of shampoo in my hand, straining to bring it to the fore. However, no matter how hard I tried, it stayed put in the dark and refused to come out. I shook my head and finished my shower. Now that I felt (relatively) human again, I went back to the kitchen and gave Angela a call.

"Hey sexy, you done hibernating?" She said as soon as she picked up.

I laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Where you at?"

"My club downtown, going over some stuff and trying really hard not to plot the demise of a couple asshole cops." She said and I could tell she was pissed.

"What happened?" I asked, immediately on the defensive.

She sighed (and I'm willing to bet she ran her hand through her hair). "Oh, I came in today and there was some really ugly anti-mutant graffiti on my building. I called the cops and they sent a couple asshole rookies to take care of it. Except they weren't going to take care of it because they're obviously bigoted assholes. I'll bet they're racist, too."

"Did they threaten you?"

"No, not as such. But I threatened them and they backed off and did their jobs."

I leaned against the counter and pinched between my eyes. "You threatened them." It was not a question.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I didn't try to beat them up or anything, but the chief is a friend and I said I'd make life difficult for them if they didn't take my report." She chuckled. "Don't tell me you're worried about me?"

"Listen, if you're like me in any way, then hell yeah I am. I know what kinda trouble follows me around. I don't even want to think about the trouble that follows you on top of that."

"Hey, give me some credit here! I've taken care of myself this long!" She laughed again. "The chief said he'd take care of it, I'm sure it'll be all right."

"If you say so. But if I run into them, I can't promise they'll come out of it with all their limbs intact."

"Just as long as they're still attached, I could give a shit." I heard her juggle the phone around before continuing. "Listen, why don't you come on over here. See what made me the most popular club owner in Detroit."

I hesitated. Everything in me was screaming that I should really just leave and let this woman get on with her life. Sure, the night before had been amazing and not just the sex, but I couldn't help but feel that there was no place for me in the life she'd built for herself. "I dunno. I really shouldn't stick around much longer."

"Oh no you don't. I just got you back here, you're not leaving again!" She said, a note of panic in her voice.

"Hey, we split up all those years ago for safety, what makes you think comin' together again now is a smart idea?"

"Because no one's come to look for me in 7 years. I'm betting no one's come close to you in even longer. I have people all over who keep me anonymous and it's worked so far." She replied, still sounding panicked. "I have other people who can hack into any computer and find out anything I want to know. If anyone in North America was still interested, we'd both know it by now. They'd have caught us."

I closed my eyes and thought about this. On the one hand, she was right. I hadn't run into anyone who knew who I was until Stryker showed up at the school a couple weeks ago. She hadn't had a run-in in a while, though it sounded like there'd been at least one. For the first time that I could remember, my instincts were telling me 2 different things. A small part of me thought that sticking around would only end badly, but the greater part wanted to stay, at least for a little while. "All right, I'll give it a few more days at least, but then we'll have to talk about it, deal?"

"All right, it's a deal. Now get your ass over here, you'll love this place." She hung up her phone. I stood there for a few more minutes, still debating the wisdom of this decision, but I knew I wouldn't be leaving any time soon. I checked my watch and was surprised that it was already after noon. I must have slept longer than I thought.

I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. When I opened it, I heard a tinkling sound and saw 3 keys hanging from a nail in the center of it. I grabbed them and when I tried them in the deadbolts, they worked. I laughed a bit at that. I'd been here one day and already I had the keys to her apartment. Whoever this lady was, she trusted me completely. I pocketed the keys and went down to the bar.

Her bartender Ricky was there, restocking the shelves when I came in. His head snapped up but when he saw it was me he relaxed. "Hey man. Have a good night?" He asked with a half-smile on his face.

"None of your goddamn business, is it?" I growled back. He just smiled wider and continued his work. "Angela says you'll tell me how to get to her other place from here." He nodded and gave me quick directions. Not bothering to thank him, I left through the front door and went to my motorcycle.

All right, it's not really MY motorcycle it's Scott's. But it's a sweet machine and I'm sure it's wasted on that uptight asshole. Something with this much power belongs underneath someone who can truly appreciate it. I'm sure if he took time to think about it, he'd realize that I was right and just stop giving me shit about it. I could hardly wait to take Angela for a ride.

I made it to the club in about 15 minutes. As I pulled into the space next to her car, I couldn't help but notice the graffiti she'd told me about on the phone. Subject matter aside, it was actually quite a piece of work. However, since it proclaimed "All Muties Should Go To Hell and Die" in letters 5 feet tall, I could understand why it upset her so much. If I ever saw the punk responsible for it, I'd have to teach him a lesson. Nothing permanent, maybe just break his spray-painting hand. I heard the side door open and Angela waved me inside.

She led me into the club and I turned slowly, taking it all in. After The Dive, I certainly wasn't expecting what I saw here. The carpeting was black, the dance floor was partly wood and partly Plexiglas (which probably lit up). There were black leather sofas in two of the far corners, the rest of the furniture being black painted steel and chrome tables with chairs. The bar took up one entire wall and it was mostly chrome and Plexiglas with neon tubing running through it. Instead of the normal mirror hanging behind the bar, it was a shattered mirror that had been reassembled mosaic style. I turned to the front wall last, only to be met with the snarling image of a huge wolverine with what appeared to be silver claws. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, practically bouncing in place.

"Damn. After your other place, I wasn't expectin' this!" I gestured to the mural. "Is that what I think it is?"

She smiled. "This place is my baby, my money maker. The Dive is really my side project, a place to relax when I get off work." She walked over to me and nodded at the mural. "And yes, that is exactly what you think it is."

"Isn't that being a little…I dunno…obvious?"

"Hey, this is Michigan. No one thinks twice when you give a little love to U of M." She grinned at me, mischief written all over her face.

"And that's the only reason?"

"Of course not." She snorted, then lowered her eyes. "I always held out a little hope that you'd maybe find your way somewhere close enough to this place to hear something about it. As far as I know, no one else has anything like it." She shrugged. "I know I decorated The Dive the way I did because it reminded me of the bars we used to stop at after we left that cabin, when we dared to go into civilization for more than a few hours. I should have known you'd find that before you found this place."

"Well, the other one is more my style." I pointed out. "But it sure looks like you've done good for yourself here."

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure. And you'd never believe the crap that I had to go through just to keep all the gangbangers and drug dealers out of here. But I run a straight business, the chief of police comes in once a month or so to check things out and otherwise, I'm left pretty much alone." She walked back to my side. "This is the happiest I've been in ages."

I nodded and slipped my arm around her waist. "So, what's up with the extra artwork out there?"

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Do not get me started about that. I mean I doubt that it's personal. I'm positive no one knows I'm a mutant, except maybe Ricky. I usually get at least one graffiti a month and as long as it's not racist and it's nice to look at, I'll leave it up for a while. That big blank wall out there is just too tempting, I suppose."

"You sure that's all it is?"

"No, of course not. But I'm not going to waste my time worrying about it either. My painter will be here soon enough and it'll be gone by the time we open tonight." She looked at her watch and cursed softly. "Which reminds me. If I don't find a DJ for tonight, I'm screwed." She took my hand and led me up a set of metal stairs to an office. "Just sit anywhere, I have to make a couple calls."

I sprawled on a loveseat she had in there and leafed through a magazine. I was still thinking that I should be moving on, but I really didn't know where I was going to after this. I hadn't really thought much about a destination when I left the mansion, but I sure as hell hadn't planned on staying in Detroit for any length of time. Finding someone with a serious connection to me was unexpected and I wasn't sure what to do about it.

Angela finally finished her phone calls and turned to me. "Ya know Logan, I've had this place for a good long while."

"Yeah, and?" I replied, looking over the edge of the magazine.

She walked over to me, took the magazine out of my hands and tossed it over her shoulder before stretching out on top of me. "Well, it just occurred to me that I never gave this place a proper christening."

"Oh really?" I said and wrapped my arms around her. "We'll just have to remedy that now, won't we?"

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Before I knew it, over a week had gone by. I hadn't asked her any more about what she called "The Bad Old Days" because I could see it was a very painful subject for her. Yeah, I wanted more answers very badly, but I didn't want to force her. I figured she'd tell me more when she was ready to talk about it.

There's also the part where she is the owner of two wildly successful bars in a major urban center. She had Ricky to handle most of the day-to-day crap at The Dive, but she didn't trust RnR to anyone else. There were days that I didn't know where she found the energy to work at both places, but she did. And it's not like we were getting that much sleep, either.

After the first few nights, my dreams started again. Mostly, it was brief flashes of things that didn't make any sense to me. I saw something about being in a jungle with a thunderstorm; another night I saw a man with a knife to Angela's throat in the middle of another forest. Sometimes I saw us fighting side by side against unseen enemies. But I also dreamed about Jean and Alkali Lake a couple times.

It must have been nine or ten days when it changed. Before, I just kept seeing it over and over again and I knew it was a dream but I couldn't seem to wake myself from it no matter what I did. I didn't want to say anything to Angela about it because I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it anymore. The more I spent time with her, the more I questioned how I'd felt about Jean in the first place. Don't get me wrong, Jean was a beautiful woman and she always made me feel like a real person, not someone to be afraid of. Just being in the same room with her was enough to drive me crazy and the one time I kissed her still burned in my mind. But Angela was something different and not just because she was someone who had known me before. I felt a really strong connection to her that made what I had felt for Jean pale by comparison. I wasn't sure what it meant and to be honest, it confused the hell outta me.

But that last time, the dream didn't go exactly like it actually happened. I saw the whole thing happening all over again, down to the last detail. I saw her standing outside the plane as she held the water off and lifted the jet out of harm's way. I watched as flames began to consume her just before the water closed over her. At the moment she lowered her hands to accept her fate, the scene froze and I was the only one still able to move. To be fair, it felt perfectly natural, it being a dream and all. But no matter what I did, I still couldn't get outside of the plane to pull her back inside with us where she would be safe. I was helpless to change anything, even in my own mind and I didn't like it one bit. I found myself on my knees in the jet, beating my fists against the control panel and screaming "I'm sorry" over and over. I looked out the window and Jean was standing there, looking at me with a sad smile and it was then that I finally had the courage and strength to say goodbye to her.

That was all it took for me to finally pull myself out of the nightmare and back to the real world. I sat straight up and saw that Angela was awake and standing next to the bed, clenching her robe at her throat.

"Logan, what's wrong? Are you ok?" She asked, holding out her hand.

"Wha…Angela?" I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come back to bed."

She slipped back under the blankets, but instead of lying down she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me. "What was it? What did you see?"

"It's nothin'." I replied and pulled her close to me. "Just go back to sleep."

She gave me an icy stare. "Don't give me that shit. Who's Jean?"

I swear, my heart stopped for a second and I gave her a hard look. "No one you need to worry about."

"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about you." Her look softened. "Come on, tell me. Who's Jean?"

I sighed and looked at her. "Until a week and a half ago, I would have told you that she was the finest person I'd ever met."

"Why not now?"

"Because that's when I walked into your bar, darlin'."

She smiled and snuggled into me. "Ah, I see. So, tell me about her. What happened?"

So, I told her everything: Stryker invading the mansion, kidnapping some of the kids, the return to Alkali Lake to rescue them. I told her about that little Oriental broad and what I had done to her. And I told her about Jean and how she sacrificed herself to save us all. It was hard to do and I heard my voice breaking as I told her. "I loved her, or at least I thought I did. But she was in love with someone else and chose him over me. She made me want to be a better man and 12 hours later, she was gone."

Angela chewed on her lip, looking down at her hands. "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…I didn't want to hurt you."

I chuckled. "This from the woman I killed once."

She gave a bitter laugh and looked at me. "Well, she must have been a hell of a woman."

"She really was. But now that I look back on it, it wasn't Jean that I wanted so badly. It was her strength, the way she made me feel like I wasn't some fuckin' animal. It was that part of her…it always reminded me of somethin', but I could never figure out what." I rolled to my side and pulled Angela close. "But these past few days have made me realize that what it reminded me of was you. Hell, I could tell from the first moment you sat next to me with that beer that you weren't afraid of me, not even a little. You just treated me like any other guy and you know what I'm capable of more than anyone."

"I've never been afraid of you, Logan."

"I know and neither was she, not even when I woke up in that infirmary of hers, not knowin' where I was and I was about an inch away from puttin' my claws through her skull. I mean, Rogue's not afraid me either but she's just a kid with a crush. But Jean was different. She'd seen inside my head and she still trusted me."

"At least she was smart enough to know the same things I've always known."

"Whattaya mean?" I asked, confused.

"It's not who a person was that matters, it's who that person is now. You did terrible things while we were at Alkali Lake, we both did. But can you look at me now and call me a killer?" I shook my head. "I'm not going to say that I wouldn't kill someone again if I had to. And I'm not going to deny that there were times when I really enjoyed doing it. But it's not who I am, not anymore." She looked hard into my eyes. "And neither are you and she knew that."

"Yeah." I lowered my head, suddenly feeling like I couldn't breathe. "Losin' her was a fuckin' nightmare. Everywhere I went in that damn mansion reminded me of her, so I left. Rogue even made me promise to come back, but I really didn't plan on it."

I felt her hands on my face as she lifted my head to look at her again. "Well, if that's what you really want, I won't try to stop you. You have to follow your heart." She looked like her heart was breaking.

"I know. And I am. It's why I haven't left here yet." I leaned in and kissed her. "I might not remember lovin' you before, but right now that don't matter to me. I'm startin' to love you just fine right now and if the rest comes back someday, then I guess I'll love you all the more."

I certainly wasn't expecting her to cry when I said that. Women are so damn confusing. "Logan, you have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that again."

"Hey, don't cry darlin'. This is supposed to be a happy thing."

"It is, you big dope. Come here and love me right and proper."

It is a damn good thing we both heal well. Damn good indeed.

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**AN:** Thanks to everyone who's reading and special thanks to everyone who reviews! The happy dance is improving with every review...:) Keep up the good work:)


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Don't own them, never did, never will...unless I get supremely lucky someday.

**AN:** Ok, so I lived in the greater Detroit area about fiftyeleven years ago...but I never had any reason to go to the morgue or anywhere else that they kept dead people...so I can't say for certain how accurate my description of the place is...so we'll call it artistic license and leave it at that...:)

Chapter 6.

(Angela)

We had a grand total of sixteen good days from the first time he walked into my dive. We should have known it wouldn't last forever, trouble always seemed to increase exponentially when we were together. To credit the gods, it wasn't the military that found us. That was the only small blessing in the whole thing. No, it was a modern day witch hunt and it never would have happened if Logan didn't like to ride that bike so damn fast and if it hadn't been raining.

I always took Wednesdays off from both of my bars so I could have at least one day to do stuff like shop or slack or whatever. This particular Wednesday I decided to take Logan out and prove to him that Detroit isn't nearly as scary as the movies make it out to be. Granted, a lot of the nice parts of Detroit are actually suburbs of the city, but it has a few jewels within its limits. Of course, we were less than a quarter of the way through the day when it started to rain. For those who are not familiar with weather in Michigan, it isn't like weather anywhere else. Since the whole state is surrounded by water, the weather is unpredictable and when it wants to be nasty, it doesn't fuck around. This storm was no exception.

I liked the feeling of freedom that the motorcycle gave us, so we were out on that for a change. Logan grumbled all the time about the helmet law in Michigan, especially since we both technically had built in helmets. But I didn't feel like dealing with any tickets so he reluctantly agreed with me and we wore them. Unfortunately, the helmet doesn't protect you from the neck down.

We were cruising down I-96, heading back to my apartment when the car in front of us started to hydroplane. That was unfortunate circumstance number one. Number two was the construction going on, with lots of really nasty rebar all over the place just sticking out of the ground. As if that wasn't enough, number three was the outrageous speed that we were going. Logan reacted to the spinning car ahead of us and jerked the handlebars a little too hard. Our bike started to skid and I could feel it starting to go down. I braced myself for the crash, but the front tire hit a crack in the pavement and I was catapulted off the back of the bike. As I was flying towards the aforementioned rebar, I saw the bike go ass over teakettle and Logan sliding underneath it. Then, there was only pain.

I blacked out for a few seconds and everything hurt, but I didn't know how bad it was until I looked down and saw that I was impaled on at least three lengths of the steel. I took a breath and realized that at least one had gone through my heart. Damn it, I was going to die again and soon, before they could lift me off this and I knew it. The problem was the part where I'd be back again tomorrow. The other problem was Logan and how he'd blame himself for killing me again. I distantly heard voices: "Holy shit, she's still alive!" "For now, but look at her, she's bleeding too much." "Crap, I can't believe that guy is standing!" So Logan was all right.

I heard footsteps pounding over to me and I knew it was Logan. I could hear him saying "no no no" and then he was standing over me.

"Logan." I tried to say, but it was barely a whisper. I tried to lift my hand to touch his face, but my arm was so heavy.

"Angela, no! No honey, you'll be all right, just hold on." I vaguely felt him grasp my hand and kiss it, but I couldn't squeeze his back. "Come on, hold on."

I smiled at him. "Just don't wait. Understand? Don't let them wait." My eyes closed and the blackness overtook me. I could hear him screaming at me, but I couldn't hold on any more. We both knew I'd be back. I could only hope he understood what I meant with my last words to him. Finally a feeling of warmth came over me and with a last gasp, I died.

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_Southern California, home of movie stars, recording artists and enough desperation that you feel right at home. It's been two years since you'd left Logan on a cold road in Canada, but it feels like a lifetime._

_It's a shame you have all that extra metal in your body, it makes you very afraid of water. So why you came to the land of all that is beaches is beyond you, except that some of the people you've met seem a lot more like mutants than you do. Maybe you've just been around too long, seen too much. But even with the shit you did and the people you killed while under Stryker's thumb, you still tried to believe that other people would be different. On the contrary, the human race seems to be cheerfully killing each other in ways even you never thought of and it's the stuff of nightmares that makes headlines. Why the hell did you have to be in one of them?_

_"**Unknown Woman Killed During Robbery Attempt**" it said. Yeah, right. It's a good thing they never got far enough to try the autopsy portion of the proceedings. You're pretty sure if they remove your heart, you can't come back. Not to mention the fact that your corpse will certainly wind up in the wrong hands right after the headline "**Robbery/Murder Victim's Skeleton Covered in Indestructible Metal**" comes out. Of course, Logan would probably hear about that and come down here to hunt them down to kill them. But hell, you came back. You always do._

_It's the middle of the night and the morgue is pretty much empty except for the night clerk and a security guard. You wake up on a cold metal table, naked except for the sheet covering you and the tag on your toe. Christ, if you never have to see another one of those, it'll be too soon. You quietly get up and poke around until you find where they keep the scrubs around here. Finally somewhat clothed, you peek out of the autopsy room and find the hallway blissfully empty. You hope this place is like others you've seen so you can find a locker room and hopefully steal some shoes. It takes a couple wrong turns and at least one near miss with the security guard, but you finally find it. You hit pay dirt on the fourth locker and the shoes are even your size. You borrow the brush that's in there, silently thanking whoever owns this stuff. For now, you leave the shoes off, better to move silently without them. Stretching your hearing to the limit, you cautiously make your way out of the morgue and out onto the city streets. Pausing a block away to put on your shoes, you walk a little more casually until you come to an alley. Finally certain that you've made your escape, you run all the way to the tiny studio apartment that's been your home these past 6 months and stuff the necessities in a backpack before heading out. You leave a month's rent and a note on the kitchen table, telling your asshole landlord to just sell your stuff, you won't be back._

_Very early the next morning, you pop into one of those storefront hair salons and have your hair cut off short and spiky, colored black. You make another stop at a thrift store for some right proper tattered clothes and a pair of old combat boots. It's a shame piercings don't last on you, a couple in each ear and one in your nose would do wonders for your disguise, but they don't so you have to content yourself with the old black eyeliner and lipstick routine. As you exit a fast food place where you grabbed a quick breakfast, the latest headline causes you to smile. "**Body of Unknown Robbery/Murder Victim Missing**". You bet it is._

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The problem with dying in the middle of the day is that, when you come back, there's usually a lot of people around to see it. And it's not like you can continue to play dead, because eventually there's stuff like Y-incisions and they always want to weigh your brain. Since I had no intention of allowing either thing to happen, I could only hope that they wouldn't do a detailed autopsy because it was pretty obvious what killed me. I only know one other person who could survive a rebar through the chest and he wasn't here right now.

At any rate, when I came to, I was covered with a sheet in a cooler. That makes things tougher because it means I have to bide my time until someone either comes in that I can knock out and steal their clothing or someone comes to claim my body. Having never had someone to claim me, I usually went for option one. There's also the part where it's damn hard to convince someone you're still dead when your previously unhealthy shade of grayish-blue has suddenly become a marvelous pink usually only seen on children and certain varieties of roses. Gods, I hate dying. Maybe I will become a nun. It would certainly be safer.

After an eternity, I finally heard the cooler door open and the sound of another stretcher being rolled in. The door closed softly behind the technician, who gave a jovial yet somehow creepy "Good morning" to all the other corpses in here with me. The bad part was the hustle and bustle I heard outside the door while it was opened, reduced to a bare whisper now that it was closed again. I'm sure my friend here couldn't hear anything, but he's not me. My heart sank even further as I heard him approach my stretcher while whistling a jaunty tune. I held my breath and hoped he wouldn't be long.

"Hello, Angela. So sorry about your accident. Well, Dr. Mason is waiting for you in room two to give you another once over before we release you. I'm sure you won't mind." Is this guy for real? Maybe I should kill him on principle. I'll bet he has a collection of true-crime books with serial killers as the major theme. And they think mutants are scary? Let them spend half an hour with this guy and they'll elect me president.

My morbid buddy circled around to the head of my stretcher and started wheeling me out of the cooler. Shit, outta time, I had to do this now. Besides, I couldn't hold my breath anymore. Quick as I could, I brought my knees up and kicked him full in the face while rolling towards him off the stretcher. Good, I freaked out the freak. The day wasn't a total loss after all. I stalked over to him, stark naked and stood over his quaking form. His nametag read "Stan Stephens", which made me shiver and not from the cold. Alliterative names are a sure sign of psychosis, I truly believe that.

"Hi Stan, thanks for your condolences. Now, give me your clothes and get me the hell out of here. Dr. Mason is just going to have to be disappointed today." Stan didn't respond, so I knocked him out and stole his scrubs. At least he was wearing underwear. If he'd been going commando, I would have chanced walking around naked. He had a huge tattoo of a weird gargoyle on his entire back. Yet another creepy thing. Someday, we'll hear about the Detroit Slasher or something and it'll turn out to be him, mark my words.

Clothing obtained, I had to find a way out. The cooler door was not an option, I could still hear way too much activity in the hall. I looked around frantically and spotted a vent near the ceiling. Sliding out my claws, I jumped up, grabbed hold of it and pulled the grating off, then pulled myself up and in. It was barely big enough for me and I wasn't even sure if it would go anywhere helpful, but at least it got me out of the cooler. I crawled along for about five minutes before the vent finally took a 90-degree turn straight down. There wasn't any heat down there, so at least I wouldn't wind up in a furnace. I braced my hands and feet on the sides of the shaft and slid down as carefully as I could. After about ten feet, I came to another shaft leading to the left and right. When right proved to be most unhelpful, I retraced my path and finally found another grate.

Yep, basement. I hate morgue basements. I think they're all designed to be damp and creepy on purpose. I carefully removed the grate and climbed down, replacing the grate as quietly as I could. There were no sounds in my immediate area, so I went exploring for the locker room to find shoes. Fortunately, it was empty, so I had no trouble grabbing a pair out of one of the lockers and a jacket out of another. So far, so good.

But I had forgotten how trouble increases exponentially (scratch that, make it geometrically) when Logan's around. I had just made it to the basement exit when a security guard rounded the corner. I figured that acting natural, like I was just on my way out would work, but to no avail.

"Hey you! Let me see some ID." He yelled down the hall. Crap. It meant they knew I was missing and they found good ol' Stan. I knew I only had one shot to get out of here, so I crashed into the door and out into the parking lot. Of course, no cover out there. I immediately took off to the back of the building, kicking off the shoes as I went. I knew I would have to climb the building if I was to have any chance of getting out of here alive (again). Fortune smiled briefly as I noticed that the back of the building didn't have windows. Good, that meant I didn't have to try and avoid them. Sliding my kitty claws out again, I took off straight up the side. It was only three stories and I was up on the roof before security even knew where I was.

I paused to catch my breath and to search the pockets of the jacket for anything useful, like a cell phone. Hooray, a little more luck. I flipped it open and saw that the battery was almost dead. Well, I didn't need it for long, just to call Logan to help me get the hell out of there. I called my apartment, hoping he was still there and waiting for me. He was.

"Angela! Where the hell are you?" He said as soon as I said hello.

"City morgue. Well, on top of it actually. Escaping during the day is a real bitch, let me tell you."

"Why didn't you wait?"

"What, and risk Dr. Mason finding me alive? Or worse, Stan the Orderly could be a psycho necrophiliac and there I was, all dead and naked. No, I couldn't wait any more, they were gonna autopsy me and I can't chance that. Can you help me get outta here?"

"Yeah, of course, what do you want me to do?"

"Get down here and be ready to drive really fast." The phone made a plaintive beeping sound. "Shit, this phone is almost dead. Gotta go. Hurry!"

His reply was cut off by the phone dying. Not wanting anyone to figure out where the last call went to, I smashed the living shit out of the thing, grinding all the little chips as best as I could under my heel. That's one of the nice things about the metal skeleton; it makes covering up evidence a snap.

After another eternity, I heard my car swing into the parking lot. I chanced a peek over the roof to see if any of the security guards were still down there, but they seemed to be gone. I crawled quickly to the edge and waved Logan around to the back where I could climb back down unseen. He brought the car around, turning it so the passenger side was facing my way. I slipped all my claws out again and shinnied headfirst down the wall. Of course, right when I thought we were home free, a security guard rounded the corner in time to see me take the last six feet of my journey down the wall before leaping into the car.

I pulled the door shut as Logan sped out of the alley and into the street. But we had both seen the guard on a radio and I knew that pursuit would be hot on our tails. Fuck me running! I took us on a rather convoluted route back to my apartment, but I knew without a doubt that my days in Detroit were now officially over.

We burst through the front door of The Dive and I immediately began issuing orders to Logan. "We don't have time for much. Call Ricky, he's number four on the speed dial and tell him to get his ass here ten minutes ago. Then hit speed dial number nine and tell Buzzkill I need him ASAP."

Logan picked up the phone and dialed Ricky. "Buzzkill? What kinda name is that?"

"It's not, it's a handle. He's a hacker. We'll need him more than anyone else, I'd wager." I sat at the computer and immediately began transferring the largest portion of my cash from the main accounts to a secure account I kept in the Bahamas. Being alive this long has made saving money insanely easy and I like to keep it where it'll stay mine. I left enough in the regular accounts for both of my bars to be taken care of until Ricky could get all the info switched to his name.

"Right. Ricky's on his way. Buzz isn't answering."

"Leave a voice mail, tell him it's a code thirteen. He'll know what that means."

"Maybe, but I don't."

"It means 'I need fake documents and I need them fast, money is no object'. You sure are nosy when I'm trying to run." Typing swiftly on my computer, I executed a series of commands that would lock up the whole system and wipe the hard drive in 48 hours unless Buzzkill came in and reopened the whole thing for Ricky. "Once you're done with that, go up to my apartment, pack your stuff and make sure to get my box out of the cabinet. I'll be up to get my emergency kit in two minutes."

"Emergency kit?"

"You break out of as many morgues as I have, you learn to be ready to fly." I grabbed a legal tablet and a pen and dashed off a quick note to Ricky.

_Ricky,_

_I'm sure you knew about me all along, so I'm sure my leaving is no big surprise. Take care of my bars, I want to come back here someday and find out you've made them even better. There's plenty of money for both and a little extra for you. Take my apartment, I know you've been coveting it for ages. Burn this whole tablet after you read this and if anyone asks, all of this was an inheritance from my untimely demise. There's a will in the safe to confirm that. Take care._

_All my love,_

_Angela_

I left the note in the middle of the desk and ran up the stairs. I figured I had about three more minutes before the shit would really hit the fan, but I needed real clothes and not creepy Stan's scrubs. I tossed on a sweatshirt and a pair of cargo pants, shoved my feet into an old pair of boots and grabbed the backpack I always kept ready in the closet. It wasn't until I re-entered the living room that I noticed my cabinet in a shambles. I looked at Logan, who at least had the courtesy to look a little sheepish.

"It was locked."

"Ah, so you killed it. Fair enough. Let's go."

We dashed back down the stairs just as Ricky was coming in. He seemed surprised to see me alive, much less leaving, but I didn't have time for him. "Ricky, give me your car. You can get another one, I swear. I don't have time to explain. I'll call you…someday."

He handed me his keys without a word and we left the bar. Logan wanted to drive, I could tell, but there was no time to argue. I gunned the engine and we took off down the road. I glanced in the rearview and saw two police cars come screaming around the corner. Shit, they figured out the mutant climbing the walls was me. I prayed that Ricky would be able to explain things and rounded the corner. Now to we had to find Buzzkill.

As most hackers, Buzz wasn't easy to find at the best of times. Also, being a minor, he was technically still in school. However, the school thought he had perfect attendance and he always got straight A's, so it's not like the truant officer would be around to find him any time soon. I grabbed a cellular out of my backpack, one of those disposable jobs you can get at any carryout and called him.

"Yo, Buzz here, dahell do ya want?"

I rolled my eyes. "Buzz, it's Angela. You get my message?"

"Sure thing, working on it right now. You need everything?"

"Yep, and change my prints at the police station if you can. And get rid of any pictures you find of me."

"Yer the boss. It'll cost ya."

"Yeah, whatever, I can afford you. Where ya hanging?"

"Tea shop in Ann Arbor called Crazy Wisdom. Ya know it?"

"Yep, be there in an hour."

I broke the connection and prayed we could get out of Detroit. Buzz was good, he'd get rid of my picture and prints first, knowing the documents could wait a while. It wasn't much, just a driver's license, passport and birth certificate with a new name on them. But it would be enough to get me out of Michigan and off to gods only know where.

But the gods still have a sick sense of humor and it seems that being a possible body snatcher is one thing. Being a back-from-the-dead mutant bitch is enough to button up Detroit so tight that the President himself wouldn't be able to get in or out. I don't think the security was this tight when the Pope came through here. It also didn't help that anti-mutant sentiment was still running pretty high; people still remembered both Liberty Island and the White House invasion. I needed to get on I-94 to get to A-town, but the cops had every freeway ramp blocked. Even Michigan Ave. was blocked at the point where it left Detroit proper. I cursed loudly.

"Damn it, we're gonna have to crash one of these." I said, punching the steering wheel.

"Looks like it, yeah." Logan agreed.

"It's too risky, they'll probably shoot at us and if I die again, it'll be another day before I can even try to get out."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's what supposed to mean? It takes me 24 hours to come back, always. I'll be stuck here, they'll shove me in jail and the next thing I know, a group from the government will be out here picking my ass up and testing me to destruction. It's pretty simple."

"No, what I meant was, what do you mean by 'I'? Don't you mean 'we'?"

"What? No! You have to get out if you can. There's no sense in both of us getting caught."

The look he gave me was fierce. "Let 'em try, but I'm not leavin' here without you. I can't and I won't."

"Logan, you have to. If either one of us is going to have chance, you have to."

"No way, darlin'. Ain't gonna happen."

Men! So damn stubborn at the most inopportune times. "Fine. But we'll have to get everyone disabled so we can have something of a head start. And we'll have to get off in like Taylor or Romulus and steal a car. I'm sure they've seen this one."

"Finally, a little fun." He popped his claws and grinned at me. "I can't wait."

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**AN: **You're getting two chapters for the price of one today, so i'll leave all of my real author's notes at the end of the next one...:)


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Ok, let's imagine for one minute that Logan did belong to me...do you really think i'd share? So, i guess it's a good thing he DOESN'T belong to me, along with the rest of the people in the X-Men universe...:)

**AN:** This chapter is basically the last chapter from Logan's perspective. I had originally written them both with the intention of arbitrarily deciding which one stayed and which one would never see the light of day. However, after reading them both and liking them too much to pitch one, I kept them. If you don't care about Logan's persepective on the accident, you should be able to skip this chapter and the story will still make sense.

Chapter 7.

(Logan)

_You're sitting in the driver's seat of a non-descript black sedan, waiting for your partner to return. Of course, the problem with non-descript black sedans is that they scream "government" and anyone with half a brain would have already dispatched snipers to the roofs of the nearby buildings. You tried to explain that something a little sportier, like a Camaro, would have actually blended in better, but does anyone listen?_

_This is your first time out with your partner, a tiny little broad named Hellcat. At least, that's what everyone expects you to call her, just like everyone is supposed to call you Wolverine. You take a minute to wonder if everyone has some kind of animal name and who's the unfortunate bastard stuck with something like "Platypus". You chuckle at your own joke._

_You hear a sound behind you, too faint for a normal human to hear, but you're not a normal human. Your hypersensitive nose also catches the scent of Hellcat, combined with cordite and…blood? You're out of the car in a flash._

_You look down towards the mouth of the alley where you're parked in time to see her running around the corner at top speed. You hear the sound of a muffled gunshot; someone is shooting at her with a silenced pistol. You spring your claws and run towards her to give her some cover. You've been told that she heals pretty fast, but not nearly as fast as you do. So if she needs backup, you're supposed to do what you can to minimize damage to her. You get within five feet of her when a bullet takes her high in the right shoulder and she drops to the pavement. You pause just long enough to make sure she's still breathing, but the smell of your partner's blood brings out that feral rage that you usually fear more than you'll ever admit to anyone. Tonight, however, you embrace it._

_You stalk quickly to the end of the alley and take stock of your surroundings. You can hear at least three people in the general area and all of them stink of sweat, cordite and fear. You hear them speaking, making a rough plan to get into the alley and finish the job. They don't know it yet, but this is the last conversation any of them are ever going to have. At least one of the men has to circle all the way around the building to get to the fence that separates this part of the alley from another that runs perpendicular to it. Another is across the street, hugging the front of the facing buildings to come from the left. The last is coming from the right, but none of them are going to move until they're all in position. All the better for you to take them out._

_You wait a few moments for the first man, the one on the right, to get into position. You can hear him breathing just around the corner from you, but you want to wait until the one going to the left is too busy crossing the street to notice you. A heartbeat later, you hear him begin his frantic scramble across and you reach around and grab the right hand guy by the throat, pulling him into the alley with no more noise than the shuffling of feet. He barely has time to register what's happening to him when you bury your claws into his gut and twist. His eyes widen in surprise, no one ever expects to die, and you lower him gently to the ground. A few seconds later, the guy coming from the left is in position and makes the mistake of whispering for his friend since he's no longer where he's supposed to be. The guy pokes his head around the corner, but you've already crossed the gap and your claws rake across his face, spraying blood from the vessels in his neck that you made sure to catch on the way down. He falls to the pavement, drowning in his own blood. Two down, one to go._

_You've barely made it back to where the car is when you hear a muffled sound like a "whump" followed by the impact of the bullet in your left side. Don't these stupid fuckers know anything? You don't shoot the Wolverine, it'll only piss him off. This time is no exception. You increase your speed and the guy looks up at the sound and sucks in his breath in terror. All he sees is you, blood sprayed across your face, more blood dripping from the nine-inch ivory claws that extend from both of your hands. He takes another shot at you as you come face to face with him; a point blank shot to the chest that would kill a normal man but simply makes you even angrier. You grab him around the throat and squeeze, listening to him try to gasp for air, then thrust your claws into his chest and twist. You toss the corpse over the fence and it makes a very satisfying thump when it hits the ground._

_You take another brief moment to calm yourself, your bloodlust is high and you have a wounded partner to tend to. Once you've come back down, you rush back to Hellcat and pick her up. You're a bit surprised at how heavy she is. She looks like she weighs a hundred pounds if she's lucky, but she feels like almost twice that. You lay her gently in the back seat and cover her with your jacket before getting back in the car and gunning the engine. You're halfway to your extraction point when she comes to._

_"Ah fuck I hate it when they shoot me." She says._

_"Yeah, me too. Pisses me off." You reply, glancing in the rearview mirror as she sits up._

_"And the bullets hurt almost as much coming out as they do going in."_

_You shrug. "I don't even notice anymore." She snorts and mumbles something that sounded like "arrogant bastard', but it amuses you more than anything. You glance back again only to see her with the claw of her left index finger out trying to dig the bullet out herself. "Hey, leave it. We'll get it when we get back to base."_

_"Fuck that. Stryker'll just leave it in til it comes out on it's own." She says bitterly. "He's a right prick, that one."_

_"Why would he do that?" You ask, confused._

_"Cuz he knows it'll heal in a couple hours and I'll be good as new." She gasps in pain and you hear the slug hit the floor of the car. " Why waste perfectly good medical stuff on a nearly indestructible mutant whore?"_

_Her statement shocks you. "What are you sayin'? He don't patch up his own people?"_

_She climbs over the seat to sit next to you, now wearing your jacket to cover her bloody shirt. "Ah, my friend, you've just answered your own question. We are not 'his people'. We're mutants, remember?"_

_"No shit, 'Cat. But I thought that we were supposed to be workin' for them, doin' the really hard stuff that normal humans can't do."_

_"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's what they told you. They told me the same damn thing." She rolls her shoulder and winces. "But it's no more true now than it was fifteen months ago when I was first 'recruited' for the cause."_

_The way she said "recruited" makes you pause. How did you get joined up with them in the first place? You remember that you were already in the Canadian Special Forces doing covert ops and everyone called you…what did they call you? You shake your head in an attempt to clear it. "If he hates mutants so much, why the hell did he recruit us?"_

_"If I could answer that, I'd be the wisest person on the planet." She's staring straight ahead now, her eyes looking a little glassy. "At this point, I don't even give a shit anymore. I'm just hoping to find a way out someday."_

_You pass the rest of the trip in silence, but you continue to steal glances in her direction. At some point, she falls asleep and you can't help but notice how different she looks without that pissed off scowl she always wears. Hell, if she wasn't your partner, you might have even considered hitting on her. But you know damn well that work and pleasure should not mix. You wake her when you arrive at the extraction point, abandoned chemical factory on the outskirts of town and they debrief you on the chopper ride back to base. She hands a couple computer disks to the ranking officer, a Major Bodette, then collapses back into slumber. Bodette congratulates you on a job well done in taking out the shooters, but after what Hellcat told you, you start to wonder which side you're really on now._

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It all happened so fast, even my superior reflexes were unequal to the task. One minute we're riding along I-96 at a decent clip, the next the bike is starting to slide. We must have hit something in the pavement because the next thing I saw was Angela flying over my head just as the bike flipped over and slid a good hundred feet with me underneath it. I registered a sickening sound, much like a tenderizing hammer hitting a thick steak and I just knew that was Angela. I must have hit my head on the concrete wall that surrounded that part of the highway because I blacked out for a bit. When my vision cleared, I could hear voices. I stood up and looked around.

"Holy shit, she's still alive!"

"For now, but look at her, she's bleeding too much."

"Crap, I can't believe that guy is standing!"

There was a knot of people over near the edge of the highway where some construction was going on and I could smell blood, Angela's blood. I ran over to her, just repeating "no, no, no" like saying it would make it true. I pushed my way through the people to see horror.

She'd landed on some rebar, there were three lengths coming out of her torso and one through her left thigh. At least one of the steel rods was in the exact position of her heart. God damn it! I fuckin' killed her again!

She looked at me and she tried to say my name. She was ghostly white and fading fast, but I didn't know what to do. "Angela, no! No honey, you'll be all right, just hold on." I took her ice-cold hand in mine and she tried to grasp it but she was too weak. "Come on, hold on."

She managed to smile at me; I can only imagine that it took the last of her energy, before speaking her last words. "Just don't wait. Understand? Don't let them wait." Her eyes closed slowly, like she was going to sleep and her hand went limp in mine. I couldn't help it, I threw my head back and screamed. I heard her give one last gasp before the end and it seems that I felt it when she slipped away.

I felt hands grasping at me, telling me to sit down, that help was on the way, to let her go. I didn't want to, I wanted to pick her up and bring her with me. I knew, intellectually, that she'd be coming back tomorrow. But the mind and the heart don't always communicate very well and humans tend to let themselves be fooled by their eyes. And my eyes were filled with the horrifying scene of the woman I was beginning to care about a hell of a lot dead because I'm a fucking idiot.

The sound of sirens filled the air and my head snapped up. I knew I had to get the hell out of there before they arrived, I had no way to explain the remnants of blood on my clothing where the pavement had scraped away cloth and skin. I looked around, frantic, then shoved my way back through the people and took off. We'd just come across an overpass, so I made my way there and jumped to the highway below. I felt the impact from my ankles through my spine, but it's times like these that I'm glad I have a metal skeleton. I dashed quickly to the off-ramp and ran as fast as I could until I found a pay phone.

The only person I could contact right now was Ricky, who had been at the bar when we set out. I told him there'd been an accident and what happened to Angela. My voice broke when I told him, but I didn't know how to tell him not to worry about it. He asked where I was and said he'd send someone to pick me up. Fifteen minutes later, a very ugly brown Ford pulled up next to me and I climbed in.

It was Carl, the other bartender at The Dive. He looked me over but didn't say anything about the state of my clothing on the trip back. I barely let him stop the car when we reached the bar; I just wanted the hell out of there. And I wanted to wash Angela's blood off of me. I vaguely heard Ricky say "Jesus fucking Christ" as I passed through the bar to the office and I blocked everything else out as I made my way up the stairs. I opened the door with the keys (even though I would have preferred to kick it in) and I started removing my clothes in a trail that ended in the bathroom. I got into the shower and turned the water on full blast hot, then sank to the floor, shaking.

Sixteen days. We'd had sixteen amazing days before this. She'd finally started talking about our time at Alkali Lake, telling me about some of the training we'd received but also about the extreme disciplinary measures that were taken for mission failure. Just last night, she'd told me about the first mission we ever went on together. I still didn't remember it clearly, but it seemed like the more she told me, the more things were coming through in my dreams. I even found myself sitting downstairs at the bar on occasion and little things would flash through my mind that she hadn't told me yet. I don't know what it was about her, but she was doing a damn fine job of breaking down whatever it was that kept my memory at bay.

Now this. I sat there in the shower letting the water scald me, an unbelievable pain shooting through my being. I thought it had hurt to watch Jean die. Compared to this, that was a fucking picnic. It made me realize more than ever that I hadn't been in love with Jean, even though the attraction had been there. What I was feeling now was second only to having molten metal bonded to my bones.

After about twenty minutes, I finally started to calm down and think rationally. Yes, Angela was dead. But she wasn't going to stay that way. In just under twenty-four hours, she'd be back again. The problem was, she'd probably already been taken to the morgue and there was no way I was going to be able to get in there and get her out before that happened. I strained my brain trying to remember if anything like this had ever happened to us before, but my mind stayed infuriatingly blank. I decided I'd boiled myself enough and shut the water off.

My clothes were completely thrashed, I wouldn't even be able to salvage the jeans. Grumbling, I went in search of other clothes and pulled them on as quickly as I could. I threw myself on the couch and held my head in my hands, part of me still grieving for the dead woman I would see again tomorrow. I don't know how long I sat like that, but after a while I heard a soft knock at the door. I raised my head and took a deep breath; it was Ricky. I crossed over and opened it.

"Hey Logan. Can I come in?" He asked, looking around.

"Sure." I held the door and he walked right over the sofa. After securing the door again, I sat in the armchair. "I'm sorry. It was an accident."

Oddly, Ricky just gave a short bark of laughter. "Man, don't worry about it." He said. "I was just coming up here because…how much do you know about her?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Enough, why?"

"Did you know that she's…special?"

"I know why I think she is. What are you gettin' at?"

He took a deep breath and looked at me hard. "This doesn't leave this room, you understand me?" I nodded. "She doesn't know that I know this, ok?" I nodded again and he took another deep breath. "Angela…she doesn't die, ya know?"

My eyes narrowed. "What are you sayin'?"

"I'm saying I know what she is, I know she's a mutant."

"How the fuck do you know that?" I growled, my claws itching just under the skin.

"It was an accident, really. Hell, it was so long ago I don't even know if she realizes I was there when it happened." He went on to tell me about something that had happened just over seven years ago, about a month after Angela had moved here. She was working as a bartender at a seedy little joint across town and Ricky had a cousin who lived just down the street. One night as she was walking home after her shift, she'd been jumped by some gangbangers and one of them had knifed her pretty good. She had somehow managed to stumble to an abandoned house before passing out, but she left a blood trail that a blind man could have followed, including a decent smear on the side of Ricky's car. As one of the few concerned citizens in the neighborhood that night, he followed the trail to the house and called out, but didn't get an answer. Thinking maybe she might need help, he entered cautiously and found her sprawled out on the bathroom floor, dead as a doornail. Now, this being Detroit, it was a risk to call the police and tell them you found a body, so he simply left her there. However, he also had a conscience and that kept him up the whole night, wracked with guilt. Finally, he decided to report it and called the police the next night and gave them an anonymous tip from a pay phone down the street.

Unfortunately, the police had ways of tracking anonymous calls even in those days and they found the pay phone he used. They started knocking on doors and asking everyone if they'd phoned in a tip about a body. It took them a little while to get to Ricky, but as soon as they asked him he freaked a little and they knew it was him and arrested him on the spot for making a phony report to the police. They took him downtown and questioned him for hours but his story never changed. Yes, they'd found a lot of blood and yes, they'd found the trail and followed it to the source. It still didn't change the fact that there was no body in that house when they got to it. But, since he had a spotless record, they simply fined him and let him go.

It wasn't until years later when she opened RnR and was looking for bartenders that he crossed her path again. When he arrived for his interview, he almost passed out right at her feet. She'd even joked with him, asked if he'd seen a ghost and he made some lame excuse to her. He obviously got the job, ultimately becoming the manager of The Dive and he never once said anything to her about knowing she was a mutant.

"Look Logan, I don't want her to get in trouble. I don't know how her mutation works, but I do know that if she's gonna rise from the dead, she'll be doing it in a very bad place. We have to get her out of there if we can."

I leaned forward and clenched my hands together. "Believe me, bub, if there was a way for us to do it and not get arrested for body snatchin', I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I get the feelin' she's done this before and I'm sure she'll be all right. If they try anythin' that might threaten her in any way, she'll fight tooth and nail to get out of it."

Ricky just nodded and we sat there for a while, lost in our own thoughts. He finally stood, said he had to get back to the bar and I let him out then sat back on the sofa. My eyes fell on the red cabinet in the corner and I thought of the treasure box it contained and my guts twisted again. Sixteen amazing days and here I was, alone with only my thoughts to keep me company. I honestly didn't know how I'd ever make it through the night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I finally fell into an uneasy sleep about four in the morning, but my dreams were filled with the sight of her impaled on those steel bars. I finally gave up trying to get any real sleep around ten o'clock, which only left about an hour before she'd be sitting up in the middle of the morgue. I spent the whole hour pacing in the kitchen by the phone, knowing she'd call me if she managed to escape. Time slowed to a crawl and it was well over an hour before the phone rang. When it did, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Angela! Where the hell are you?" She quickly outlined the situation for me and I was in turn pissed as hell and worried sick, but they were both overshadowed by the sheer relief I felt at hearing her voice. She'd just told me to come get her and be ready to drive really fast when she uttered a curse and the phone went dead in my hand. I didn't even take the time to hang up her phone, I just grabbed her car keys off the peg in the kitchen and I was out the door.

Even if I'd never known Angela in a previous life, I would've fallen in love with her on the basis of her car alone. It's not every day that a (supposed) thirty-something woman chose to drive a 1968 GTO with a 350 horsepower V-8 engine, a Hemi 4 speed transmission and I suspected that the extra button on the dash was for a nitro boost. It was painted a garish shade of orange and the only thing missing was a naked lady painted on the hood. I couldn't help but smile at the look we would get from Cyclops if we came rolling up to the mansion in this baby. I smiled even wider at the look that would be on his face when Angela told him to keep his grubby mitts off of it.

I rolled up to the city morgue less than twenty minutes later and looked up to the roof. Angela peeked her head over the edge and waved me around to the alley in the back. I got the car positioned so the passenger side was nearest to her and opened the door. My eyes nearly fell out when I saw her climb down the wall using only her claws. Near the end, her eyes widened at something she saw and I turned my head in time to see a security guard witness the last six feet or so of her climb. She literally leaped off the side of the building, twisted in the air and landed a couple feet from the open door, diving in and pulling it after her as I gunned the engine.

She directed me on a fairly scenice route back to The Dive and I was a little annoyed that we didn't have more time. But there was no denying that she'd been seen and it was apparent from her generally pissy attitude that she was going to have to leave Detroit.

When we got back to the bar, she started issuing orders as she sat down at the computer in the office. I made a couple calls for her, then ran up the stairs to her apartment to pack. Since I travel light, that didn't take me very long and I went over the cabinet in the corner to retrieve her treasure box. It dawned on me that I didn't have the key and I didn't have time to go get it from her, so I just popped my claws and tore through the doors. Now that I could get a good look in there, I saw that she had other incredible things in that cabinet besides the box and I knew we'd be abandoning it all.

She had a matched set of fighting daggers, almost ten inches long and wickedly sharp. On another shelf was a chess set that looked like it was made out of real ivory and ebony with gilt trimming on the board. Yet another shelf held a collection of jade Buddhas. I shook my head in regret as I retrieved the black lacquer box from the shelf it occupied alone.

A few moments later, Angela came streaking up the stairs and ran to the bedroom. I heard her muttering curses and slamming drawers, but she emerged less than a minute later fully dressed with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She finally noticed me next to the cabinet with the box in my hands. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the state of the cabinet. "It was locked." I said lamely.

"Ah, so you killed it. Fair enough. Let's go."

We dashed back down the stairs and back into the bar. Ricky was just coming through the door and she demanded his car keys. He tossed them to her and we were gone. I tried to get the keys from her, but she was bound and determined to drive. Just as we approached the corner, a couple cop cars came screaming up to the bar behind us. She cursed again and rounded the corner, then gunned the engine as hard as she could. She called her hacker friend as we tried to find a way out of the city, but it soon became clear that we wouldn't be leaving with as much ease as we had hoped. I swear, you could blow up a building full of nuns and babies in this town and get away with it. Come out as a mutant escaping your own autopsy and they'll seal the place up tighter than Cyclops' ass on a bad day.

"Damn it, we're gonna have to crash one of these." She said, punching the steering wheel.

"Looks like it, yeah." I agreed.

"It's too risky, they'll probably shoot at us and if I die again, it'll be another day before I can even try to get out."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's what supposed to mean? It takes me 24 hours to come back, always. I'll be stuck here, they'll shove me in jail and the next thing I know, a group from the government will be out here picking my ass up and testing me to destruction. It's pretty simple."

"No, what I meant was, what do you mean by 'I'? Don't you mean 'we'?"

"What? No! You have to get out if you can. There's no sense in both of us getting caught."

I fixed her with a scowl. "Let 'em try, but I'm not leavin' here without you. I can't and I won't."

"Logan, you have to. If either one of us is going to have chance, you have to."

"No way, darlin'. Ain't gonna happen." I was not giving her an inch on this subject, no way. She'd come to mean too much to me to just let her throw herself away.

"Fine. But we'll have to get everyone disabled so we can have something of a head start. And we'll have to get off in like Taylor or Romulus and steal a car. I'm sure they've seen this one."

"Finally, a little fun." I popped my claws and grinned. "I can't wait."

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**AN: **Real life has happened to me in a big big way...my mother had to have a triple bypass and is in the hospital...i have lots of chapters ready for upload, but i don't know if i'll be as speedy with the updates for the next few weeks...i'll get to them as time permits...in the meantime, love to my beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, for making sure this keeps making sense...super special thanks to those who review...you keep me writing...:)


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Do I have to go through this all again? Don't own the X-Men or anything related to them...Angela, Buzz and certain mutants are all mine...

Chapter 8.

(Angela)

Don't let the movies fool you; crashing a roadblock isn't as simple as speeding towards a barricade while a couple of cops with a Clint Eastwood complex dash out of the way at the last possible moment, while the cars blocking your way explode into a fireball of epic proportions. In reality, the cars don't explode. We were parked behind an old warehouse just off 8 Mile, trying to figure out how to get out of the city. The guy on the radio was saying they had every possible exit point blocked and an APB out for me. It seems that no one got a good look at Logan, for which I was grateful, but it didn't help us too much in getting out.

I chewed my bottom lip while I tried to figure out the best way for us to get out of here. I was certain that some of the freeway ramps would have less coverage than others; it was just a matter of figuring out which ones. I had a sudden inspiration and called Buzz again.

"Dahell do you want now?" He said immediately.

"How'd you even know it was me?" I asked.

"Uh, there's this thing on most cell phones called 'caller ID'. It lets you know who's cal…"

I cut him off. "You're funny really." I said. "Look, can you hack into the Detroit police computer and tell me where the roadblocks are the thinnest?"

"It'll cost you extra."

"Like I care."

I heard the sounds of typing followed by a few grunts and more typing. "Aha!" He exclaimed finally. "There's a couple you could try. One is about a mile and half from the Ambassador Bridge, which will you hook you up with I-75. There's another one at the Lodge, but there's also road construction near that one."

"Thanks Buzz, you're a lifesaver." I said and broke the connection. Logan looked over at me with his eyebrow raised. "We've got one that'll work. Let's go." He just grinned and I started the car. I got the distinct impression he was spoiling for a fight and at the moment, I couldn't blame him.

I approached the roadblock cautiously. There was only one car, but three cops were standing in front of it. I didn't even have to tell Logan what was going to happen, I just gunned the engine and rammed the car onits left side. True to form, the cops dove out of the way. Logan sprang from the car as I brought it to halt just beyond the barrier, popping his claws and tearing into the car to disable it. I hopped out and went to work on the cop that was just standing and bringing up his gun to take aim. I slid my own claws out and took a swipe at his arm, cutting deep enough to sever tendons and he dropped the weapon. I picked it up and tossed it into the overgrown grass next to the onramp. I am my own weapon; guns are for puss…wimps. The cop took a swing at me with his nightstick, but I dodged it easily and smashed a fist into his forehead, pulling it enough to just knock him out for a good long time. I noticed with great satisfaction that it was one of the same assholes that didn't want to take the report about my vandalized club, so I gave him good solid kick in the ribs for good measure.

I heard a gunshot and turned just in time to see Logan giving the remaining cop on his side a look of murderous rage. I didn't even have time to react; he was on that cop so fast it was a blur. His claws slashed through the gun, slicing it into pieces and bring his other claws down on the cops' forearm, just barely pulling it in time to not sever the limb. He finished with a massive backhand to the cop's head, retracting his claws at the last possible second. He dropped like a stone and Logan kicked him in the head to make sure he was out. He looked around for more enemies, but there was just me. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the cop on the ground next to him. He just snorted and said "He'll live."

We dashed back to the car and got on the highway. The whole incident only took a few seconds, but it felt like it had lasted much longer. Adrenaline was pumping through my system and I had to keep backing off on the gas pedal. I could hear Logan breathing heavily next to me and I knew he was in the same place I was. I couldn't help but think back to the weeks immediately after he and I had split up to throw Stryker's men off our track. I'd wandered from place to place for a while, hitching rides, but eventually the pain of our separation would get to me and I'd pick a fight with some poor, unsuspecting guy just to give me someone to vent my feelings on. Through all the conversations we'd had over the past couple of weeks, I knew that Logan had been doing a lot of cage fighting up in Canada to help keep his more lethal urges under control. Oh yeah, I understood him more than he knew.

We finally made our way to Romulus, which is technically where the airport is. I figured it would be easier to find us a car to boost in the long-term lot there. Sure, there's security and stuff around there, but it's not nearly as tight as it could be. We drove to the back of the lot and found a pickup that looked like it had been parked here for about a year. Logan insisted on driving it, he said that women driving pickups looked fucking silly. I was too tired to argue, coming back from the dead is more exhausting than you can imagine. I just told him to take I-94 west and to wake me when we got to Ann Arbor before settling down in the seat and passing out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_You're running through the woods, but it doesn't make any sense. One moment, it's the heavy dampness of deep jungle, the next you're in the dense pine forests of northwestern Canada. Your ears are assaulted by a million conflicting sounds: gunfire, thunder, angry shouting, passionate cries. A bright flicker of lightning blinds you momentarily and you lose your footing, slipping down a slope into a steep ravine. You hear ragged breathing off to your left. You approach the sound with caution, only to step to the edge of a slow moving stream in the midst of another forest at midnight. You shake your head in confusion, the images coming so fast you can't make sense of them. It takes you a few moments to realize you're dreaming._

_As soon as you reach that conclusion, the scene before you freezes. You peer into the gloom and you remember this place. Some random politician or military officer, you don't remember all the details anymore, but you and Wolverine had been sent here to "take care" of him. That was what Stryker always said when he sent you out to kill someone, "You're going to go take care of him for me". What you're seeing now is what happened when the wet work was all over._

_There'd been killing, the senator (or was it an officer?), some hired guards around the hunting lodge, four or five of them. You still had blood on your face where it had sprayed from a ruined throat and your hands were sticky with it. Wolverine had been all but covered, but he usually was on missions like this. He really got into his work when he let go. You had stripped to your skin from the waist up, but he'd gone into the water before you, gloriously naked. You'd been partners for almost a year at this point and the attraction you had for him was growing. But he seemed content to just be your partner; he sure as hell hadn't made any moves towards you._

_Until tonight._

_The water was icy when you plunged your head and arms beneath the surface. You came up with a gasp, tossing your hair behind you and splattering diamond droplets that glittered in the moonlight. Wiping the water from your face, you looked up…and he was standing not four feet away from you, staring, the look in his eyes unreadable in the dark, even to your hypersensitive eyes._

_This is the frozen scene you see before you._

_"_I'm dreaming_." You say this out loud, then clap your hand to your mouth for fear of breaking the spell, but the scene stays intact. You move cautiously into the water until you're standing midway between his figure and your own, positioned so you can see both in stark clarity. You look at yourself kneeling on the bank of the stream, droplets frozen in time on your skin, a tendril of hair falling just over your right eye. You're taken aback at the way you used to look back then. You're still attractive, but there's a hardness in your bearing that you've since lost. The only part of you that isn't holding anything back is your eyes. You're staring at Wolverine with a deep sense of need that had been long unfulfilled. You remember how that felt and it breaks your heart._

_You turn and approach him, wondering what you might see now that you're outside the scene. He's standing there in the water, moonlight frosting the tips of his hair while obscuring most of his face in shadow. The scowl lines that normally score his forehead are gone, his mouth no longer set in what you thought was a permanent half-frown. The whole of his face is softened, his lips parted as though he wanted to say something. You lift your gaze to look into his eyes; the look you couldn't read all those years ago is now plain for you to see. And what you see is the same need you felt reflected back to you tenfold._

_And it breaks your heart._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I awoke with a jolt. The first thing I noticed was that the truck was no longer moving. The next thing was Logan with his hands on my arms, shaking me into consciousness. Sweat was pouring out of me in veritable rivers and I felt like I couldn't breathe. It took me a moment to realize that the dampness on my face wasn't only sweat, but mostly tears. I'd been crying in my sleep.

"Oh God, Angela. Don't scare me like that." Logan said, a frantic look in his eyes.

"What happened? Where are we?" I sat up in the truck and looked around. We were in a rest area and we seemed to be the only car there at the moment. I swiped the moisture from my face with a grimace.

"I'm not sure, on both counts." He replied, settling back a little in his seat. "One minute, you're sleepin' peacefully. Next thing I know, you're cryin' and sayin' 'I didn't know' over and over." He smoothed the hair from my forehead. "Didn't know what, darlin'?"

I took a deep breath and released it with a shudder. "I'll tell you later. We have to keep moving." I closed my eyes again, but I could still see him standing in the water, looking at me. I quickly opened them again and looked around. "I think we're pretty close to Ann Arbor anyway, so lets just get there and worry about this later."

He scowled at me, but started the truck back up and pulled back onto the highway. About ten minutes later, the Ann Arbor exits came up and I directed him downtown. We drove the streets for a few minutes before finding a place to park. It's just stupid to try and park anywhere near where you're actually going in this town. It's always best to find the first space you can and walk everywhere. We didn't bother locking the doors, since we wouldn't be needing this truck anymore anyway. We just grabbed our packs and slammed the doors behind us. After taking a quick survey of the immediate area, I led Logan down the sidewalk towards the place we were going.

I let him stay on full alert. It's funny, really, how much it almost felt like we were on a mission. I was the one with the main objective and he was there to watch my back, wary of any and all possible dangers. I shoved my hands in my pockets and just acted casual.

A few minutes later we arrived at Crazy Wisdom. The downstairs part is a new age bookshop that sells everything you can possibly imagine. The second floor is devoted to a teashop that always has several varieties of exotic teas on hand and some of the best scones I've ever eaten in my life. A bell tinkled as we entered and Logan sneezed almost immediately.

"What's wrong?" I asked, placing my hand lightly on his arm.

"This place reeks of lavender and…and…" He sneezed again. "And all kinds of shit." He looked at me with a pained expression. "You mind if I wait outside?"

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I wouldn't say he looked pathetic (at least not to his face), but he definitely looked supremely unhappy. I nodded. "No, go ahead. Just stay out of trouble, ok?"

"Hey, you know me darlin'." He said over his shoulder as he left the shop.

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of." I mumbled after he'd gone. I shook my head, smiling, then headed upstairs to the teashop.

I glanced around when I got to the upper floor and spied Buzz sitting off in a more private area, a tray of tea and pastries on the table in front of him, his laptop propped on the side of his armchair. He glanced up as I approached and gestured absently to the tray in front of him. "Help yourself, thought you might be hungry."

I sank into the armchair next to his and grabbed a scone. "Thanks, I'm famished." I took a bite and savored the cinnamon and apple flavor. "So, how's it coming?"

"Nothin' I can't handle. What'd you do, off the mayor?"

I gave a short, bitter laugh. "I wish it was that simple."

"Yeah, I figured that much. Somethin' ya think ya should tell me?"

I considered him for a moment. Buzz was a genius, but like all kids with that particular gift, he was also somewhat of an outcast. His hair was a violent shade of blue and hung over his forehead. He was easily as tall as Logan, but if he weighed more than 130 pounds, I'd eat my shoes. His nose was a little too long and too sharp for his face, which was almost round in shape. He wasn't unattractive, but he really didn't seem interested in anything that couldn't be conveyed in zeroes and ones, so I don't think he cared much about his looks. Not that he was one of those creepy kids who never bathed, quite the contrary. He just didn't have much time for people unless they "played the game" too. I really liked him, so I decided to come clean.

"Yeah, there is. But I'm sure you've figured it out." I took a deep breath, then leaned in and whispered to him. "I'm a mutant." There, it was out.

He actually stopped typing and gaped at me. "No shit? Cool. What can ya do?"

"Retractable claws, catlike agility, enhanced hearing and eyesight and nine lives. Well, more than that by now, but it's what I call it."

"Cool. So that really was a morgue photo I purged."

"Yeah it was." I ate some more of the scone. "I probably don't have to say this, but please don't tell anyone."

"Shit, like anyone I know would care. We're our own breed of outcast. Hell, I could probably set up a whole network to help people like you, if there was a need for it someday."

Now there was something I hadn't thought of. Mutant fear was still growing, but it was worse in some places than in others. If there was a way for mutants to "disappear", maybe they could find a little peace. "Buzz, you might be onto something there. Let me think on it for a few days, I'll shoot you an email when I get where I'm going."

"No prob." He typed a few more things, then smiled and closed the computer. "Ok, there's a guy on Liberty who has your papers. He's the best there is, you'd think they were all legit he's that good. Strictly cash only, but I'm sure you knew that." He scribbled the address on a napkin and handed it to me. "Now, I'm sure you need wheels, so go see another guy out on Stadium. He's legitimately got a car for sale. It's not much, but it runs and he really needs the cash." He scribbled that info on another napkin. "I got the IM that you activated your locks at home, I assume your old partner will need me there soon?"

I nodded. "Yeah, withintwo days or the whole system is fucked. And Buzz, if he needs anything you take care of him you hear me?" He nodded. "Good. I gotta run, thanks for everything." I reached into my backpack and handed him an envelope. "Here's your share and a little extra to keep me out of the papers and whatnot for at leastthree days." I stood up and he followed suit. I suddenly realized that I was going to miss him and hugged him impulsively. "Take care of yourself, stay outta trouble."

"I will. Lemme know about that other thing, will ya? It'll be fun."

"Will do, Buzz."

I left the teashop and collected Logan just outside, smoking a cigar. Leave it to him to find a tobacco shop no matter where we are. We made it to the address on Liberty where I collected my new identity, one "Melissa Arthur", age 27, blond hair (this guy was a Photoshop ninja to make me look like a real blond in that pic!), and hazel eyes. Well, she'd do for now. Once Buzz was done, you'd be hard pressed to prove that Angela Rex had ever existed, much less lived in Detroit and I could go back to just being me. We hopped a bus (much to Logan's indignation) to the address on Stadium and purchased the car. Buzz was right, it wasn't much but it would do for now. For an extra fifty bucks, he even agreed to let us keep the plates for a week, which should be more than enough time for us to get to wherever we were going. I thanked him and after arguing with Logan over who got to drive (I lost) we were on our way again.

As soon as we got on the expressway, I was at a complete loss. I really didn't know where to go, since I hadn't planned on having to run any time soon. It broke my heart to leave my club and my little bar behind, but I had always known it would probably happen sooner or later. I slumped in the passenger seat, staring out the window at nothing. A while later, I felt Logan take my hand and squeeze it, so I looked over at him.

"I'm sorry I brought all of this on." He said. "And I'm sorry I killed you again."

I almost laughed. "You didn't. The rebar did that."

"But it was my stupid ass drivin' the bike and if I hadn't been going so damn fast, I…" He looked at me hard. "What kind of protector am I? I promised to protect you and I keep killin' you. I swear, I'm cursed."

"No, Logan, it wasn't your fault. It was a stupid accident, that's all. It's not your fault the guy ahead of us lost control. It's not your fault that 'always land on my feet' doesn't include 'and can avoid any sharp object at high velocity'. We're mutants, but we're also still human."

"I know, but still. I shoulda been thinkin' and I wasn't." He squeezed my hand again. "Maybe we should split up again, it was safer for you that way."

I couldn't help it, I punched him as hard as I could. And since I have metal knuckles too, along with years of training, it actually hurt him. For a few seconds, at least."Listen to me. I spent I don't know how many years grieving for you. It took me so long to stop expecting to see you come around the corner, I didn't think I'd ever stop. Every time I smelled a cigar, I thought it was you. I eventually had to force myself to think that you were dead because it was easier that way, easier to believe I could never have you than to believe that you were still out there and nowhere to be found." I squeezed my eyes shut to push back the tears that were threatening to spill. "Logan, you told me once you were nothing but an animal, a predator and dangerous, but it's not true. I can't begin to count the times you risked yourself to keep me safe, both during and after Alkali Lake. Yeah, we have some animal qualities, but we're better than that, you're better than that. I know I still can't convince you otherwise, but if that's true for me, then it's true for you too."

The look of shock that crossed his face simply can't be described. He looked at me, then back at the road, not saying anything for a long while. We finally came to a rest area and he pulled off the road, switched off the car and turned to me, determination in his eyes. "Angela, you are not an animal. You don't have to spend every minute of every day beatin' back the rage. When we went through that roadblock and I was fightin' those cops, I had to remind myself not to kill them, remind myself that they weren't the enemy, they were just doin' their job. But the bloodlust is there, the desire to kill is always there. The only time I don't feel it is when I'm with you. And it seems like even when I'm with you, somethin' happens to make me kill anyway."

"Damn it, Logan! Haven't you listened to a thing I've been saying these past couple of weeks?" I ran my fingers through my hair. "It seems to me that you have some misguided notion that I'm more innocent than you are, that I didn't do as much as you did. Let me tell you, you are very wrong if you think that. I was there for over a year longer than you were. I have a much higher body count than you think I do. And the only weapons I've ever used to kill someone is these." I raised my hand and slid my claws out. "Sure, you have your claws, but I have to get real up close and personal to kill someone with these. After a while, you stop feeling bad about doing it. Not long after that, you start to enjoy it. And I really enjoyed it." I put my claws away and clenched my fist. "If you think for one minute that not killing people is easy for me, then maybe you **should** go before I decide to prove you wrong…on you."

Logan stared at me, startled by my outburst. "Hey, I never said I didn't believe you about the things you did. But you just seem, I don't know, so much more human than I feel."

"It's all a front, don't you see that? I've spent the last fifteen years cultivating this civilized persona, while deep down I'd rather be running through a forest somewhere, chasing down the one witness that got away just so I can listen to him beg for his life." Tears burned in my eyes and I turned away, wrapping my arms around myself and curling up as small as I could manage in the bucket seat. "I used to tell myself it's what any mother would do to protect her child, that it was my mothering instinct that made me so vicious. But when I was alone at night after a particularly bloody mission, I knew it was because I just liked it. It took me a long time to push it down, get it out of my system. I can't say for sure how successful I've been, except that I haven't killed anyone in a long time. Mostly due to lack of opportunity, but that's my only real excuse."

Logan put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to him. "Look, you did what you did out of fear for your daughter's life. And take it from me, you're not the only one who took delight in killin' those people. I was there, too. I might not remember all of 'em, but I do know that when I did it, it was pretty satisfyin'." He sighed. "Ya know, right before Stryker died, he told me I was nothin' but an animal, he just gave me claws. Seems he lied about the claws, so maybe he lied about the rest of it."

"That's pretty much a given, I'd say." I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "Look, it's been a rough day. Let's get as far as Toledo and we'll figure it out from there, ok?"

He nodded, then leaned over and kissed me. We made the rest of the journey to Toledo in silence, but I couldn't help but think to myself "Am I still a killer?" It was a chilling thought that hadn't haunted me in a very long time, but now seemed here to stay for a while.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN: **Many thanks to those who have expressed well-wishes for my mom...she's improving, so whatever it is you're doing, keep it up! It's helping:) Much love to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, my beta testers for everything...also, love to the Big Kitty (he knows who he is!) for his boundless enthusiasm...:)


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I really really want to own Logan...I can't tell you how much...But I don't, nor do I own anything else that's directly from the X-Men universe/comicverse/movieverse. That distinction goes to Marvel and Fox...dammit.

Chapter 9.

(Logan)

From Detroit to Toledo, including all the stops we'd made, the whole trip only took about four hours. The way I felt, it seemed more like four days. Angela was still curled up in the passenger seat and staring out the window, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. In a way, the silence was worse. Her scent was a combination of worry and despair. I vowed to never mention splitting up again.

It was just after 3:00 P.M. when I found a motel for us to stay in. I decided that it was best to avoid the big chain places, but I knew there was no way I could get her to agree to something that also offered hourly room rates. But the little places don't always ask for I.D. and that was the case here. I paid the clerk in cash, he gave me the key to our room (number 19) and I drove down to park in front of it. Angela was still silent as we got our things out of the car, still lost in her own little world. I had to snap her out of this black mood and quick, it was getting on my nerves.

I unlocked the door and she preceded me into the room, turned on a light and moved towards the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and dropped my pack on the table that was under the window next to the door. I moved further into the room and just stood there looking at Angela's back. This was new territory for me, I wasn't used to being in the position of comforter for someone who was in as much pain as she was. Hell, I can't even remember the last time I was in a motel room with someone I actually gave a shit about. I took off my jacket and tossed it on the low dresser, catching my reflection in the mirror there. Just like every time before, someone who seemed so much like a stranger to me looked back. I scowled at myself and turned away.

Angela finally turned and looked at me. We stood there for a few seconds, just staring. The next thing I knew, she closed the gap between us and we fell on each other like a starving man at a feast. I buried my hands in her hair, kissing her hard enough to bruise, while she literally tore the shirt off my back and I pushed her down onto the bed. I stopped kissing her long enough to pull back and look into her eyes, but she grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me back down to her mouth. I started kissing and nipping her all down her neck, but she dug her nails into my back and sank her teeth into my shoulder. I growled and closed my eyes and that's when the memory of our first time together came rushing back to me in all its glory.

It didn't stop me in the present situation, far from it. I was still coming down from the adrenaline rush of our skirmish at the roadblock, not to mention from the very real possibility of pursuit. I'm sure she was feeling the same things. But for the first time since I wandered into her bar, I was able to connect the woman beneath me with the woman she'd told me about. It was my first clear memory of her and I embraced it and her with a fierce protectiveness. She was mine.

A few hours later, we dozed off in a tangle of damp sheets and sweaty limbs. It would seem natural that following a workout like the one we'd just been through, I would sleep without dreams. But since we'd also just narrowly escaped God knows what in Detroit, my mind wasn't as restful as the rest of me. On the other hand, one would expect me not to dream of the torturous procedure that made me the freak I am today, but the sweeter dream of Angela and I, stranded in a snowbound cabin in the Canadian wilderness. But my mind is a vast landscape filled with darkness and that one bright memory wasn't enough to keep that darkness away.

I came out of sleep with a jolt, a barely strangled scream on my lips, claws out and thrashing away the blankets that felt like they were holding me down. It took me a couple seconds to realize that Angela was no longer in the bed with me, but on the floor clutching a towel to her leg and swearing a blue streak. I retracted my claws, rolled off the bed and crouched on the floor next to her.

"Oh God, Angela I'm sorry!" I said as I knelt in front of her and tried to help her with the towel.

"It's all right, just a flesh wound. Be gone in a couple hours." She replied, her voice tight.

I pulled the towel away from her leg and she clenched her teeth and hissed. Now, the term "flesh wound" has a pretty narrow definition when it comes to normal humans. From what she'd told me, she could take a much deeper wound and it would be no worse for her than a normal flesh wound. There's no such thing as a flesh wound for me; I heal everything. When I got a good look at what I'd done to her, I felt myself go pale. I don't care what she said about it, a cut that went almost all the way to the bone wasn't a flesh wound, more like a "deep laceration". It hadn't hit any major blood vessels, but it was an extremely enthusiastic bleeder, very deep in the muscle of her calf.

"Flesh wound?" I growled. "I damn near took your leg off and you call it a 'flesh wound'?" I tried to apply more pressure, but she hissed in pain again and unexpectedly slashed her claws across my chest. I let go of her leg and jumped to my feet. The cuts she left across my chest disappeared almost immediately, leaving only a few trickles of blood to show they'd ever been there at all.

"Yes, flesh wound. Maybe not as flesh wound-y as the ones I just gave you, but flesh wound all the same. It'll be gone in a couple hours, just leave me the hell alone."

I backed off, found my jeans and pulled them on. I paced at the foot of the bed, worried as all hell that she'd bleed out before it healed over enough. I must have asked, "How is it?" every five minutes before she finally pulled the towel away almost two hours later. I knelt down next to her to inspect it. The bleeding had stopped; it was almost closed and I watched in fascination as it completely healed over the next twenty minutes. I ran my finger along where it had been, feeling only smooth flesh under the blood that remained.

"Damn, it's just like watchin' mine in slow motion." She nodded, letting out a sigh. I continued running my finger over her leg when something dawned on me. I snapped my head up and looked her in the eye. "This is why you died when they gave you the metal, isn't it? They cut you open, did what they could til you bled out, then waited til you came back around for another process, didn't they?"

She closed her eyes and nodded again. "Yeah, they did." She shuddered in remembered pain. "I never imagined pain like I felt when they did this to me. Sometimes it wasn't even bleeding that did me in, it was heart failure."

I could feel the animal raging to be let out. "How many times?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Six, I think. Maybe eight. It's all kind of a big painful blur."

A growl escaped my lips and I stood, resuming my pacing at the foot of the bed. "Stryker is so lucky he's dead. I wish I could bring him back just so I can kill him again for puttin' you through that. Slowly."

"Yeah, I hear what you're saying. But he is dead, we can't bring him back so we just have to move past it." She stood up, her legs still a little shaky and tossed the bloody towel into the bathroom before sitting on the edge of the bed. "After they did it, all I wanted was revenge. It didn't even matter if I got out of there, as long as he was dead right along with me. I used to take my rage out on the people he wanted taken care of, even though it wasn't nearly enough. It only made me feel better for a little while. It got to the point where the only things keeping me going were Emma and revenge. Well, for a while at least."

"Until she died?"

"No, until you came along."

I stopped in my tracks, shocked. "What?"

"You came along. I wanted you from the first time they dragged you into that place. I wanted you more after the first time we sparred. I wanted to dig my claws into you and never let go." I moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to her, staring. "After you came along, the only things that kept me going were Emma, revenge on Stryker and you."

"Then Emma died…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"And all I had left was you and revenge. And I thought I lost you that day we escaped. I didn't think I could bring you back around enough to realize you were alive, much less fully human. That blizzard was a blessing in more ways than I can count." She swallowed and tears were again standing in her eyes. "That's the real reason I owe you my life, you know. If you hadn't been there, I would have killed myself. I would have sliced myself open and waited for the wolves to come and tear me apart."

She blinked and two huge tears rolled down her cheeks. I reached over and gathered her into my lap, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. I still didn't have much of her to remember from before, but the stuff I had of her now was affecting me on a deep primal level. This woman in my arms was mine, mine for life. It wasn't something I wanted to be true, it simply was true. And the fact that it was such a primal feeling scared the living shit out of me. This was my animal claiming its mate.

I held her for a long time, then gently lifted her and laid her back down on the bed. I pulled my jeans off again and covered her body with my own. I didn't move or do anything for the longest time, I just stared at her, searching her face for answers to questions I couldn't put into words. I finally leaned down and kissed her and we didn't have any need for words for a very long time.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_You're crouched low in the shadows of an immense pine tree, the lower branches sagging all the way to the ground. Above you, perched on a branch, is your partner Hellcat. You're here to take care of a senator who is heading up a committee that investigates military spending for the United States. He's found some discrepancies in the weapons budget, expenses that will ultimately lead him to Alkali Lake if he digs much deeper._

_Your mission is simple. Hellcat will be going in to take out the senator while he sleeps, then retrieve the files that he has hidden in this house. She's the one with the training in security systems, so that task is on her shoulders. Your job is to take out thefivehired security that he has patrolling the grounds of his hunting lodge. Of course, you don't remember seeing a hunting lodge that's surrounded by an eight-foot stone wall, but you admittedly don't remember much else, either. You shake off that thought as you scan the area with your heightened senses. Over the crisp pine scent, you smell the guard on the other side of the wall, the gun oil that was used on his weapon, faint traces of cigar smoke and Hellcat in the tree above you. She smells mostly of adrenaline along with the underlying spice of her own natural scent. You shake your head to clear it of those thoughts. She's your partner, no matter what your mind envisions when she's not around. Business and pleasure simply should not mix._

_The branch above you rustles once, then twice. That's your cue. It means the guard closest to your position has moved out of range and it's time to go in. You hear the faint sound of her bare feet as they hit the stones of the courtyard beyond. She always goes into these things barefoot, so she doesn't have shoes in the way of the claws on her feet. She also says that shoes make it harder for her to move silently. Sure, you can hear her, but she's the only one who might have better hearing than you. You count to ten, then slowly ease your claws out of your hands and scale the wall._

_The guard for this courtyard won't be back for at least another minute, so you make your way around the house in the opposite direction of him. You smell the next guard before you see him, a mixture of Scotch whiskey, gun oil and sweat. A few feet later and he comes into view, leaning against the trunk of a tree and pulling a cigarette out of a pack. You come upon him as quietly as you can, which is still quiet enough that he doesn't hear you. You reach around the slender tree trunk with one hand, covering his mouth and thrusting your claws into his side with the other, giving them a vicious twist before easing his body to the ground. You take his weapon and remove the clip, scattering the ammo into the underbrush. One down,four to go._

_The next guard goes as quietly as the first. You approach the position where the third guard is supposed to be, only to find that he's chatting with another guard. You pause for a moment to quickly formulate another plan. Since stealth is best for a one-on-one fight, you decide to use surprise to take on these two. You wait one heartbeat, two, three and spring._

_You tackle the first man from behind, ripping his weapon out of his hands and flinging it over the wall. The second man raises his weapon, but your leg is a blur as it flashes forward and up and you kick the gun away into the bushes near the house. You snake your arm around the throat of the man you tackled, cutting off his air as he struggles against you. The second man pulls something out of his boot, a long serrated knife with a dull, black blade. He rushes you and you turn and jerk your hostage in front of you. The man buries the knife into his belly all the way to the hilt, unable to stop his momentum before it was too late. The man you're holding grunts and goes limp, so you drop him and face the remaining guard._

_He circles you warily, looking for an opening but you don't plan on giving him one. He feints once with the knife, springing back before you can get a hold of him. You know you don't have time to fuck around with this jerk, so you pop your claws out and his eyes go wide and the smell of fear suddenly permeates the air. But he's a good soldier, he'll stand his ground and try his damdest to take you out. You growl low in your throat and rush him, trying to bury your claws in his gut. Miraculously, he dodges most of it and brings his knife up between your ribs and you feel a burning in your lung. You twist away from him and he rips the knife out, dancing just out of your reach. You take a couple short breaths, then your body begins to repair itself and you can breathe normally again. You see that he's holding his stomach with his free hand, blood dripping between his fingers. You did manage to get a piece of him, it just wasn't big enough. Now he rushes you, but you hold your ground and wait for him to get within striking distance with his knife. He brings it up to stab you again, but you grab his wrist and twist into his arm, bring your elbow down on his forearm. It snaps like a twig, but before he can cry out, you rip your claws across his throat. Blood sprays across your face and he falls down, dead._

_The sound of fighting reaches your ears and you whip your head around. A heartbeat later, you're running back to the courtyard where Hellcat is facing off with the last guard. You move in to assist her, but she's skillfully dodging everything he's trying to lay on her. He's already been disarmed of his gun, so he's only got his hands and feet to defend himself with. If he thought for even one moment that this tiny woman was going to be an easy fight, he's about to learn differently. You stop where you are to watch her as she twists, ducks and dances out of his way while landing vicious swipes of her own claws on his flesh. The guard makes a desperate grab for her, but she leaps easily over his head and comes down behind him, slashing his clothing and flesh to ribbons. He spins again and she brings one set of claws across his throat and the other across his face. Blood sprays her shirt as he falls to his knees with a grunt. She kicks him hard in the face, popping one of his eyes and he falls over. She stands over him, breathing hard and watching as the life slowly bleeds out of him._

_You take a step towards her and she whirls around, immediately defensive, but relaxes when she sees that it's you. You walk over to her side and prod the corpse with your toe. "He was early."_

_"Yeah. But I hate this covert shit anyway, I'd rather dance with these assholes." She gives you a quick once-over, noticing that you're covered in blood. She knows not much of it could possibly be yours, but she still asks._

_"Fuckin' asshole kept comin' after I gutted him. Bled all over me and managed to stick me in the ribs."_

_"Are there any more?" She asks, moonlight reflecting in her eyes. By the look in them, she's hoping you'll say yes. You almost feel sorry to disappoint her._

_"Nah, I got 'em all. Most of 'em weren't that hard to take out." You look around the courtyard. "You get the other shit?" She pats the papers that are still safe under her shirt. "Then we're done. Let's get the hell outta here."_

_You both make your way over the wall and back to the campsite you set up a few miles away. For all intents and purposes, it looks like a couple of backpackers just decided to rest here for the night before moving on. There's nothing around to indicate a military presence of any sort. As part of the cover you only have one tent, but that's typical of this kind of mission. Unfortunately, it also means that you have to sleep all night within arm's reach of Hellcat, a feat that's getting more and more difficult as time goes by. It's bad enough that she's gorgeous, but a decent fight always gets you worked up and unless there's more fighting, a good fuck is the best thing there is to work off the adrenaline. She goes to the tent and places the files in a special waterproof packet, returning a minute later. She pokes at the campfire that you had earlier, but there's not enough combustible material left in it to make it blaze up again._

_The campsite is near a stream and since you're sick of the smell of blood, you strip down and wade into the frigid water up to your waist to clean off. You make so much noise with your splashing that you didn't hear her when she came up to the bank to do the same. You duck your head, scrubbing at your hair to get all of the blood out and come back up with a gasp. When you do, your eyes settle on Hellcat._

_She's stripped to the waist, scrubbing the blood off her arms and chest. You know you should look away, but the moonlight is coming through the trees and shining off her skin like liquid silver. She ducks her head and arms under the water, then comes up with a gasp and tosses her head back. Her hair flies in an arc, splattering droplets of water all around her. She lifts her face and you realize she's looking right at you, barelyfour feet away from her. You both sit there for what feels like forever, just staring at one another. Water trickles down her throat and a strand of hair is hanging just over her right eye. You open your mouth, wanting to say something but you can't find any words. You break the spell by lowering your eyes and wading back out of the stream. You retrieve your clothes and return soundlessly to the tent._

_A few moments later, she comes in after you. You lay there with your back to her side of the tent, trying to control your breathing so she'll think you're asleep. You listen as she settles herself in and wait for her own breathing to even out. Once you're certain she's sleeping, you roll back over and just look at her._

_She'll never know that you watched her sleep for the rest of the night._

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**AN:** So, i've noticed that i'm not getting so many reviews as before...reviews make me happy and inspire me to update more quickly! Thanks to RhiannonUK and MidLifeCrisis for their support, you ladies rock! Also, special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, my beta readers, for making sure this thing still reads well. And last, but not least, love to the Big Kitty (who may or may not see this) for his regular badgering of me to write more and write it now! You're silly, but i loves ya anyway!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I've put one on every chapter before this...is another one really necessary?

Chapter 10.

(Logan)

We slept the rest of the night without incident if not dreamlessly, at least for me. At least I can be thankful it wasn't the usual dream. It was still a memory, but an entirely new one. Yeah, there'd been fighting and bloodshed, but it also had Angela and another piece of this puzzle fell into place. I was starting to understand her a little bit more and it felt like I was getting closer to something important about her, a revelation that would open up the rest of that time period for me. I lay there in a half-doze for a while, going back over the dream and gleaning whatever I could from it. It made me realize that part of me had wanted her for much longer than I originally thought. It also made me understand that she'd wanted me too, Christ only knows why.

Which only led me to wonder exactly why I hadn't made any moves on her before that day in the cabin after our escape. It's obvious the feeling was more than mutual. I had a vague impression that I used the old "business plus pleasure equals bad" argument on myself, but if the old Wolverine was anything like the current Wolverine, then it shouldn't have stopped me. For all its clarity, the memory felt very old, so I guessed that it happened well before her daughter died. After much internal debate, I came to the only answer that made sense.

The old Wolverine was a much different man than I was now. He'd still had enough control over the animal inside him that he could resist his primal urges, no matter how much pain it caused him personally. He knew that making his relationship with Hellcat personal would only make the job more difficult and they'd both been trained to believe that it was the job that mattered the most. Never mind that they kept her under control by keeping her daughter away from her. Never mind that they kept me under control with drugs or telepaths or whatever the fuck they did to me. Neither one of us were actually willing participants in their little games, but to be anything other than perfect killers for them would have meant a greater pain than denying ourselves the release of our most base instincts. They would have tested us to destruction, pulling out tortures that no one had ever conceived before in an attempt to see what they could do to us, how much we could actually take before we did actually die (and in her case, not come back). I'm sure it would have taken a very long time for them to get to that part; if nothing else, they would have made sure it did.

I also remembered back to a couple weeks ago when Angela told me about Stryker wanting us to "mate". Anger flared in me when I thought about it, that he would have tried to control the one thing that we'd both wanted that had nothing to do with his grand work. It sickened me to think how close he'd actually come to achieving that, had I not gone insane and killed all those people, had Angela not had the initiative to follow me out of there and get us to safety. So many things that could have been so much worse in their own way than just what they did to us. It made me glad once again that Stryker was fish food at the bottom of Alkali Lake.

I felt Angela stirring next to me and I opened my eyes. She rolled over and put her head on my shoulder, sliding her arm over my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close. "Good mornin' darlin'."

"Mmm, morning is never good." She replied sleepily. "It means I have to get out of bed and there just happens to be something in this bed that I don't want to get away from."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I know the feelin'. But we have to figure out what we're gonna do now." She groaned and buried her face in my neck. "Don't start that now, we have to keep movin' and you know it."

"Spoilsport." She moved up and kissed me before rolling over. "Who ever said you were allowed to make sense?"

"It happens from time to time."

She slapped me playfully, then stood up. "Well, I'm going to have a nice hot shower. Try not to miss me." She said over her shoulder as she went to the bathroom and closed the door firmly behind her. I sat up with a groan and ran my fingers through my hair. The previous day had been intense, so many things happened that it almost didn't seem real in the light of morning. And I'm not just talking about the action and adventure, but the more personal journey that had come from it for both of us. I still didn't feel like I was more man than animal, but it was starting to feel like it was something I could achieve. If I'd been there before, I could get there again.

Angela finally came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam half an hour later, wrapped in a towel. I was sitting back watching television, just flipping channels to pass the time until I could get my shower. I thought back to the wondrous six-jet shower back in her apartment and sighed. Nothing would ever compare to that. I would miss it. She walked around to where she'd stashed her pack and I made a swipe for the towel. She easily avoided me, but threw the wet towel in my face after getting her clothes out. I tossed it back then stood up, stretching. "I hope you saved me some hot water."

She walked over and kissed me soundly. "You want hot water, you get up before I do." She replied with a smirk. I growled at her and went to the bathroom.

Just like I suspected, the shower sucked. The pressure was a quarter of the six-jet miracle and she really hadn't left me much hot water. I made a mental note to get revenge on her for this someday, maybe by tossing her in the reflecting pool back at the mansion. That was usually pretty cold and…wait.

The mansion. We didn't have anywhere else to go, not really. I didn't like the idea of aimlessly wandering until we found a place she liked. That in itself was a bit surprising, since aimless wandering had been the only thing I did for so long. But it was even less attractive with her along, because it would be so much harder to properly protect her. Not that she couldn't take care of herself, she was more than capable of that. But if I could convince her to come back to New York with me, we'd have a much better chance of avoiding capture.

The water started to get downright icy, so I turned it off and wrapped a towel around my waist. I went back out into the room and Angela was sitting on the edge of the bed watching a news program. She turned to look at me with a huge grin on her face. "Guess what?"

"You're going to molest me before I can get dressed?" I asked, an evil grin on my face.

She looked thoughtful for a minute then shook her head. "Nah, we have too much to do." She patted the bed next to her and I sat down. "Check it out, we made CNN!"

Sure enough, a report about her coming back from the dead was right there on the national news, along with interviews with an orderly ("Creepy Stan the necrophiliac" she told me), the guard who saw her climbing the wall and the cops we beat down to get out of the city. In a strange turn of events, none of the people who'd gotten a glimpse of me could remember anything other than "big, fast and scary". The cop who shot me said "I shot him in the chest and he just growled at me and I thought for sure I was a dead man. His eyes didn't even look human and they were all I could see. I don't know what they were on, but no one should be able to bullet like that and walk away". I chuckled. "Yeah well, I ain't just anyone, bub."

"No, you most certainly aren't." Angela agreed then leaned over and kissed me. I remembered I was only in a towel and in a flash I had her pinned down on the bed. Her hands slid up my chest and around my neck, pulling me in close to her. She grabbed a handful of my hair, a low moan in her throat and I started to work on the buttons on her jeans. With a gasp, she pulled back. "Logan, I want to, you know I do. But we have so much to do right now and all the time in the world for more of this."

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my forehead against hers. "I know, darlin'. But I've missed so much time with you."

"I know, hon, I really do. And I promise, I'll make it up to you later." She slid out from under me and went to her pack. She rummaged around for a bit then turned back to me. "Here, take this." She said and thrust a hundred dollar bill at me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Darlin', I ain't never had anyone pay me before and I'm not about to start with you."

She rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't pay you for that in a million years. I can get it free whenever I want. No, I need you to go down to that grocery store we passed on the way in and get me the blondest bleach they have, two bottles. And I'll need shampoo and conditioner too, something unscented but not the cheap crap."

"You're bleachin' your hair?" I asked, looking at the long brown and red curls she had now. "But I like it the way it is."

"That may be, but my new identity is a blond and it's better for both of us I actually look like her."

I scowled at her but took the money and got dressed. She just stood there with her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. I put on my jacket and stalked out to the car, started it up and tore out of the parking lot. I could see her in my mind, rolling her eyes again, probably running her hand through her hair and sighing. Somehow, it calmed me down enough to play errand boy.

It only took about twenty minutes to get the stuff and get back, but most of that was spent in the hair aisle, looking at this impossible selection of products and feeling like the world's biggest asshole. I couldn't believe how much crap women had for just their hair. I had no idea what to get, it's not like I know anything about this shit. Eventually, another shopper, a girl of about nineteen, came over and asked if I needed help. I must have looked like I did when I turned to her because she just smiled and asked what I was looking for. I told her what I needed and that I had orders to not get the "cheap stuff" and she led me around until I had the required items. I still felt like an asshole.

I got back to our room and saw that Angela had straightened up a little, cleaned up as much of her blood from the carpeting as she could. Fortunately it was already a rusty brown color, so she didn't have to do too much. I handed her the bag and her change, which she slipped into her jeans pocket before stripping off her shirt and taking out the hair dye. I smiled in appreciation when I looked at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at me and started mixing the bleach. The reek of it immediately assaulted my nose; a harsh metallic smell that burned and made me gag. She turned to me and gasped.

"Oh Logan! I'm so sorry, I didn't think!" She apologized and I could tell she wanted to come over to me but didn't dare.

"It's ok, just get it over with, will you?" I went over and opened the window, which made it at least tolerable. She went as fast as she could, I know she did, but it's not a fast process from what I could tell. It took her about twenty minutes to get it all in and she informed me it would take another half an hour at least for it to get to the color she wanted. I scowled at her, but she did try to keep as far away from me as she could. After a few minutes, I cleared my throat and she looked up. "So, I was thinkin'…"

"Oh shit, this can't be good. You were thinking? Scary."

I threw a pillow at her, but she dodged it easily. "Shut up, woman. You're not funny."

"Yes I am."

I scowled at her again. "Anyway. I was thinkin' that we should head to New York, talk to the Professor. He might be able to help you out."

She smiled at me. "I was wondering how long it would take before you mentioned that." She checked her hair in the mirror then turned back to me. "I don't really see many other options, really. I guess it's as good a plan as any." She stood there for a moment, lost in thought. "But he might be able to help me with something else, too."

"What's that?"

She told me about the conversation she'd had with Buzz about setting up some kind of network to help mutants. On the one hand, I could see how something like that would come in really handy, especially for kids who didn't have the necessary resources to make it for long on their own. On the other hand, it would mean trusting a lot of very sensitive information to a group of people (namely hackers) who weren't normally looked on as trustworthy. After all, they had fun breaking into secure computer systems just to see if they could. On yet still another hand, that meant they had the skills to remove information on mutants from computers all over. It was too many hands to consider on my own. Before I could answer her, the alarm on her watch went off.

"Oh, gotta wash now. Be right back." She disappeared into the bathroom and spent another twenty minutes in there. I was once again amazed at how a woman could take a simple process like bathing and make into a production. What do they do in there? Do I want know? Better yet, do I want to watch? Before I could go any further down that road, she came out of the bathroom toweling her hair. After about a minute, she tossed her hair back and smiled at me. "So, you like it?"

I frowned at her. "I liked it the other way."

"Yeah well, the new I.D. still says I'm a blond, so blond I shall be."

"As long as you don't act like it." She glared and threw her towel at me, but I dodged it, laughing. I walked over and ran my fingers through it, surprised at how soft it still was. "I guess I'll get used to it. Eventually."

She smiled again and gave me a quick kiss. "So, what do you think of Buzz's idea?"

"Well darlin', it sounds pretty good to me. But I ain't Xavier and you have no idea how uptight One-Eye is. I can almost guarantee that they'll both have problems with it."

"Then they're idiots. Even if one hacker gets caught, another will step up to take his place. These are people who live to fuck with the system in any way they can. Just think, if they used half the energy they expend sending out viruses to help mutants, then mutants would finally have a fighting chance."

"Look, you're preachin' to the choir here. I already told you I like it. I'm just sayin' it's gonna be a tough sell."

"Then I'll just have to keep trying until they agree with me."

She turned her back on me, ending the discussion and grabbed her pack. I got mine off the table and after giving the place a final once-over, we left. She made me stop at one of those storefront hair salonsand got her hair chopped to just below her shoulders. I scowled at her again, really not liking the way she kept changing it on me, but at least she'd left it long enough to give me something to grab on to. She told me it was "just hair, it'll grow back", but that didn't mean I had to like it. I grumbled at her and lit a cigar, just to have something to sink my teeth into. Back at the car, she insisted on driving the first leg of the trip, since I'd been driving since the day before. I decided it wasn't worth the argument and handed her the keys.

The only way to get to New York from here was to take the toll road. The ticket booth was crawling with state troopers, but we made it onto the highway without incident. We kept the radio tuned to a news station to keep up on our situation. It seems that they were now focusing on the part where we busted through that roadblock like paper, followed by serious speculation as to where we'd gone. The truck we stole at the airport hadn't been found yet and the cops from the roadblock hadn't had a chance to radio for backup before we disabled them, so no one really had any clue at all where we were. I felt like I could relax a little and actually dozed off for a while.

I woke up when I felt the car stop moving. I shook my head, trying to clear it and looked over at Angela. "Why are we stopped?"

"Sorry, but auto diagnostics didn't come with my mutant package. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say the car doesn't work."

"You're a genius, darlin'. Even I can see that." I got out and she popped the hood for me. I scowled at the mess of oil all over the engine; this car was done for. I stalked to her window with the scowl still firmly in place. "This heap ain't goin' anywhere."

"Fuck! Now what? I haven't walked anywhere in so long, I don't want to walk all the way to Westchester now."

I looked around at the surrounding area, noticing the very large forest that was at the side of the highway. This didn't look much like Ohio, now that I thought about it. "Where the hell are we?"

"Pennsylvania for about the past half an hour." She replied. "I guess we should be happy that we got this far."

I nodded and considered the trees. The next exit was only eight miles away, but there was a chance a cop would come by and ask if we needed help. In the woods, however, we could travel in relative cover and we might come across a clearing both large enough and remote enough for someone to come pick us up. I looked back at her and raised my eyebrow. She sighed, took the keys out of the ignition and grabbed her backpack. I walked around to the other side and grabbed my own pack. I noticed that hers looked a lot bulkier than it did when we got on the toll road and asked her about it.

"Oh, this is actually the second time we stopped. I had to use the bathroom, so I pulled off and got us some provisions, just in case." She replied with a wink. I just nodded at her foresight and we climbed over the barrier and entered the woods. I could hear her grumbling to herself about having to walk for any length of time and I smiled to myself to hear it. It didn't scan with the Hellcat I'd seen in my few memories of her, which could only mean that she'd gotten soft in her days in Detroit. Well, if she decided to join the X-Men, she'd be in for a rude awakening, that's for sure. I hurried my steps a little to get as far into the trees as quickly as possible. Those trees were cover, which is something we desperately needed right now.

Once we made it there, I relaxed a little. This wasn't my definition of hostile territory, so I allowed myself the luxury of not being on full alert. It was nice in here, the temperature was noticeably cooler and the trees swallowed the sounds of the highway. An hour into the journey, I was actually enjoying myself. An hour after that, so was Angela.

We hiked on in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. The woods here were mostly pine and spruce, so it actually looked a lot like parts of Canada that been through over the years. Of course, there was more snow in some of the those parts, but it was still familiar in that way and we both liked it for our own reasons. I had no intention of striking out for any of the towns that were along the highway, which became apparent to my companion when it started to get dark. She made a few weak protests, but I insisted we keep moving for as long as we could and she finally agreed.

We pushed on well into the night, stopping only because I wasn't sure how much more forest lay ahead of us. We stumbled across the remains of another campfire, at least a few months old but enough to tell us that camping out here wasn't unheard of and would go unremarked if anyone came across us. I collected as much deadfall as we would need to keep a fire going all night while she pulled a virtual feast out of her backpack. It didn't seem like it could hold that much, but she put together a decent snack for both of us and couple of beers as well. If I wasn't already half in love with her, that would have been almost enough to convince me to start.

After cleaning up our mess, she sat down in front of me and snuggled into my chest. We sat there for a long time, just looking at the fire and enjoying being here all alone. I lowered my face to her hair, just breathing in her scent when I got another strong memory flash. I blinked my eyes, then breathed her in again. The memory came over me so strong I almost fell over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Lightning cracked the sky followed by a boom of thunder so loud you were momentarily deafened. You peer through the curtain of rain, but you can't see Hellcat anywhere. Cursing to yourself, you quickly break for another bit of cover further down the road, trying to track her visually. In this mess, it's the only sense you have that you can count on. This op couldn't go more wrong if the earth were to open up and swallow you whole right now. It's bad enough that you have be out in this shit, but knowing that you may have to abort brings a sour taste to your mouth. Hell, at this point, you'd be lucky to get out of this without another "training session"._

_Once you're secure again, you move towards her last known position. This was supposed to be a simple assignment: find the base, kill everyone you saw, blow it up and leave. Just another day at the office, really. No stealth, no finesse, just mayhem and blood, just the way you like it. Of course, it's not like anyone had been paying attention to such things as weather reports when they planned it. On the other hand, this was the only time you'd be able to get the top three bigwigs in the same place at the same time. Fuck, this was really gonna go over badly._

_Getting down on all fours, you scan the immediate area for tracks, but it's a vain attempt. She only leaves tracks when she wants to be tracked. And whenever she wants to be tracked, it always ends very badly for the tracker. Damn, she's probably in the trees anyway. You peer up, but the rain immediately obscures your vision and you mumble a curse. She's probably better than you at this. She's got tricks for staying invisible that you just can't pull off. She's so tiny that she can squeeze into some impossible places, her natural grace makes her silent to normal hearing, but she's also got this intensely focused vicious streak that's a thing of beauty to behold. Yet another reason to like the girl, as if the whole strong-willed, sexy and feral thing wasn't enough for you. God above, you really are an animal._

_You start running down the barely visible path when another streak of lightning forks across the sky. You're blinded by the brightness and the immediate crash of thunder that follows was close enough to make all your hair stand on end. You crouch down as low as you can and wait for your senses to return to normal before you continue your search for your partner. You try really hard not to think about the part where all she was wearing when you headed out was fatigues and a white tank top. Now that she's soaked, that top will be transparent. You mentally slap yourself, remembering that she's your partner and you shouldn't be thinking about her like that. It'll only cloud the issues at hand. Another bolt of lightning strikes even closer than the first, you can feel the thunder rattling your bones. As your vision clears, you catch something out of the corner of your eye and you're horrified by what you see._

_There's an SUV parked in the road in front of you, a body lying half-propped on the back bumper and still twitching. What has you so freaked out is the smaller body lying against a tree, smoking. A body wearing a white tank top._

_"Oh shit, Hellcat? 'Cat! Answer me!" You run over and crouch down, feeling for a pulse. You curse when you can't find one. "Fuck! Don't you die on me, you hear me? Not on my watch!" You pull her away from the tree and lay her flat on the forest floor. You tilt her head back and cover her mouth with your own, breathing into her but there's no reaction. You try again, and then place your hands on her chest to start the CPR compressions that will hopefully bring her back. You repeat the process for several minutes, but nothing changes. Lightning flashes again and a feeling of absolute despair comes over you. You clutch the sides of your head in frustration, letting out a roar of pure anguish. You're also inexplicably angry and you ball up your fist and bring it down in the middle of her chest. Suddenly, she gasps and starts coughing, her limbs shivering uncontrollably. The relief that floods through you is enough to take your breath away._

_"'Cat, are you all right? Can you hear me?" You ask, a slight tremor in your voice._

_She nods weakly. "Yeah. Fuck, that hurt. Remind me not to get struck by lightning again, ok?" She whispers and your eyes widen in shock. "What?"_

_"You were struck by lightning? Just now?"_

_"Well, I'm not sure how long ago it was. It might have felt longer that it really was. Either way, it sucked major balls."_

_You look down and take a deep breath, trying to gain control of your emotions. "Come on, we gotta get outta here and get back to camp. We can't do shit in this weather." You help her to her feet, but she still seems unsteady even though she's insisting she can make it. You start walking down the path, but after the third time she stumbles, you scoop her up and carry her the rest of the way. She's a lot heavier than she looks, but you vaguely remember her telling you something about some procedure they did to augment her skeleton with metal. The camp is only five miles away, but you would carry her all the way back to Alkali Lake if you had to. Once there, you put her on her feet and keep her steady while you open the tent._

_She manages to get inside before her legs give out again. You close the tent behind you and sit next to her. She starts shivering violently and it occurs to you that she's probably in severe shock. Without thinking, you gather her into your arms. You stay there for several minutes, but her shivering doesn't stop. You decide it's best to get her out of her wet clothes and cross to the other side of the tent to retrieve a blanket._

_"You're in shock. Get out of those wet clothes and wrap up in this." You say, handing her the blanket, but it just falls from her hands as though they're numb. You look at her softly, then kneel in front of her and very gently get her stripped to the skin, finally wrapping the blanket around her. She opens her mouth as though to speak, but closes it and suddenly looks like she's going to cry. You understand that what's just happened to her is intense and you pull her back into your arms. You try not to think about how good she feels, especially given the condition she's in. You need to distract yourself, so you start talking._

_"Look, I know I ain't the best person for this, but I'm all you got. I'm sorry I wasn't there when this happened, but you were supposed to hold position til I came back, ya know." You look down at her with a scowl, but she's unfazed by it. "I should be angry with you, but I s'pose gettin' struck by lightning is punishment enough." She smiles weakly, a promising sign, so you continue. "Ah well, I s'pose this mission is screwed for good. I don't think this rain is gonna stop for a couple days. Looks like we're stuck here. But it really could be worse, you know."_

_She finally finds her voice and it scares you how weak she sounds. "How's that?"_

_"Well, Stryker could be here with us."_

_She shudders. "You have a point."_

_You shift position so you can look at her. Your eyes scan her face, but you tell yourself it's just to assess her condition. In reality, you're marveling at how beautiful she really is, so small yet so tough. You're trying really hard to forget that she's naked under that blanket, just that thin piece of wool hiding her from your sight. You take a deep breath and start to look away, but she moves forward suddenly and kisses you._

_You pull away in shock. "Whoa, wait a minute…"_

_"No, please don't."_

_"'Cat, look. You're in no condition to know what you're doin'. You're in shock, you almost died. It makes people do things they wouldn't normally do."_

_"What makes you think I wouldn't normally do this?"_

_You open your mouth to speak, but stop, thinking She does have a valid point, you don't know for sure. "Well, you've never tried it before now, have ya?"_

_Now it's her turn to think it over. "It doesn't mean I haven't considered it."_

_"The last thing we need to do is complicate this mission any further. You almost died because of me, because I wasn't there. I'm s'posed to be your backup and I failed you." You give a short, bitter laugh. "Hell, they'll probably never send me out again with you after this. So no, don't start somethin' we'll never have a chance to finish."_

_She looks at you incredulously. "Wolverine, you do realize that we are the only mutants in this whole outfit who've survived their 'training', don't you? They have no one else to send with me. We're partners for life."_

_"Yeah, exactly. We're 'partners'. And we're gonna stay that way. Anythin' else will just complicate things and that's not good for our line of work."_

_"Don't you fucking dare! I've seen the way you look at me. Gods only know what I look like when I look at you. I'm not asking for marriage, I'm asking for a decent fuck."_

_"Oh yeah? Is that all ya want me for? You don't get enough mayhem outta me already, so you gotta try and push me a little more?" You slide away from her to your side of tent. "This is somethin' they put you up to, isn't it? Make me even more likely to ensure your safety by gettin' me all attached or somethin'? Sorry, darlin', but it ain't gonna work. I'm not completely stupid." That was the absolute worst thing you could have said. You know this because her hand shoots out so fast you can't see it and she claws you across the face. Your eyes widen in shock at what she did even as the cuts close._

_"You unbelievable bastard. Those monsters have taken away everything I ever had. My daughter, my life, my freedom, and you have the gall to think they control that part of me too? Yes, you are completely stupid if you really believe that." She wraps the blanket around her and flops down on her sleeping bag with her back to you. After a few minutes, you whisper her name and put your hand gently on her shoulder. "Don't touch me unless you mean it."_

_"'Cat, I'm sorry. It's just…they're strippin' away my mind bit by bit and I don't know who I can trust anymore."_

_She rolls back over and glares at you. "I put my life in your hands every time we go out. I don't even think twice about it because I know I can trust you completely. If that's not enough for you, that's not my problem. Now, either you take your hand off me or do something useful with it. Otherwise, I'll cut it off."_

_You slowly remove your hand and she rolls back over. The silence between you is uncomfortable and you try to say something to her, but the words die in your throat. Eventually you lay down on your bedroll. You close your eyes, silently berating yourself. Damn it, why couldn't you have just said yes? Why didn't you notice sooner? The fact is, you did notice sooner, way back at the mission with the senator, you've just been trying to tell yourself that it was just adrenaline or moonlight or something. You've been lying to yourself all this time and now, it might be too late to go back and make it right. Your last thought is how to go about doing just that before you finally fall asleep._

_You never noticed when she rolled back over, tears streaming down her face as she watched you sleep for the rest of the night._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When it passed, I breathed her in again. I must have done it five or six times and each time, more memories came flooding back to me. She finally turned to say something, but stopped. I have no idea what kind of look I had on my face, but the look on hers was one of hope. She turned and knelt in front of me.

"Logan, what is it? What do you see?"

"I-I don't believe this. I don't believe this at all."

"What? What's happening? C'mon, tough guy, you're scaring me."

"I'm scarin' myself." I sat there for a moment, absolutely still, then grabbed her by her arms and pulled her close to me, burying my face in her neck and inhaling deeply. I lifted my face, holding my breath and concentrating. I know I'd been around for weeks now, smelling her whenever she was in the same room with me, but this was a completely different scent. It was still her, but she also had all these other scents clinging to her yet complimenting her at the same time. It was these scents combined with her own that was the missing piece of the puzzle. "Angela, I remember."

"Remember what?"

I felt like I could cry, but I really don't remember how. I took a deep breath and looked down at her. "You, darlin'. I just remembered you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN:** Ha ha! Another cliffie:) Thanks to those who reviewed...they keep me happy...:) Special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, beta readers extraordinnaire for their hard work, dedication and inspiration...Extra Special Thanks to Da Big Kitty (tm) for keeping me on my toes...For those who are interested, my mom is doing much better, she's off the ventilator and will be out of ICU within the next few days...so, again as celebration for my happy thing, i updated my story for you guys...Don't forget about that little thingy down there what says "review"...they make me feel all warm and fuzzy...and there's even a little dance that happens when i get one!


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** It's back there somewhere, you know the drill...:) But in case anyone was wondering, Angela, Buzz and a few mutants are all mine, hands off please...

Chapter 11.

(Angela)

I was dumbstruck. After all this time, as much as he had to have smelled me before this, what was it about now that was different? I didn't worry about it, it was enough that he was remembering. It took me a moment to find my voice and when I did, I said the dumbest thing that could have ever come to mind. "What?"

He took another deep breath, then looked back at me, smiling. "I know, it's crazy. It's not like I haven't been breathin' you in all this time. But right now, it's different. It's you combined with the wood smoke and the pine trees, hell even the dirt." He started babbling about an op we did in Oregon, taking out a nosy senator. He went from there to another one, this time in Austria. It was like they all came crashing back to him like dominoes falling: Argentina, Beirut, Miami, Rome. It was insane of us to be so happy that he was remembering so much misery, but we were. It meant that he COULD remember, if only we could find some way to jog other memories.

I hoped that he'd be able to remember what he'd been doing just prior to his arrival at Alkali Lake, but that still seemed to be eluding him. But he now had all the grisly details of the procedure that put the metal in him, our escape and everything that happened afterwards. In fact, it seemed that any memory connected to me, no matter how remotely, was coming back with crystal clarity. I hadn't realized how long he'd been wandering, I honestly thought that he'd settled somewhere and had only recently begun to travel again. It shocked me to think that he'd been living day-to-day for the better part of fifteen years and that we hadn't once crossed paths by accident in all that time. On the other hand, it helped to explain to him why he was attracted to strong, willful women. It had more than a little to do with memories trying desperately to resurface. He also admitted that there had been many times when he'd be looking in a shop window and sometimes he'd think "she'd really like that" when he saw something cat related. There was the time he'd seen a really nice set of throwing knives and almost bought them "for her". But he'd never known who "she" was until now.

And there were little things coming back to him. Like the only way I can read a book is if I'm sitting sideways in a comfy chair, because it's easier to get to the chip bowl on the floor that way since no one ever puts a coffee table in front of a chair. He remembered the way I used to sing while I was cleaning the cabin to distract myself from how much I hate cleaning. He even remembered the last things we said to each other when we parted ways so long ago.

"I remember, we'd just crossed into British Columbia and Stryker was right behind us, maybe half a day away." He began, staring into the flames. "It was fall and we were beneath this huge tree that looked like it was on fire with all the red and gold leaves on it. I turned to you and you already had tears in your eyes, like you knew what I was gonna say."

"I did know. I'd felt it for hours, but I didn't want to admit it." I said softly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_The sun is shining warmly through the branches of the huge maple, gilding every leaf with honeyed color. It's warm on your face, but you can sense the bitter undertone of the impending winter in the air. Which is fine with you, because you're pretty sure that Logan's keeping something from you that you're really not going to like_

_You've stopped beneath this tree to get your bearings and plan your next move. Stryker's men can't be more than a half day behind you, but you're so tired of running and it's been wearing on your spirit for weeks now. You've already had two near misses since Ontario and you got away the last time by sheer luck. But none of that matters because you also have the sense that Logan has made up his mind about this. Deep down inside, you know he's going to leave you._

_He turns to you with a mixture of sadness, anger and fear in his eyes, which only confirms your feelings. The tears are already threatening to fall when he gently strokes your cheek with the back of his hand, a sad smile on his face. "Darlin', this can't go on." He says quietly. "We're too easy to catch if we're together. You know I'm right."_

_Your chin trembles and two fat tears roll down your cheeks. "Logan, I'll never make it alone. You're my strength."_

_He wipes the tears away with his thumb, resting his palm on your cheek. "And you're mine. But I'll never be able to live with myself if they tear you apart and you know they'll never let us be in the same country, much less the same lab." You throw your arms around him and kiss him soundly, clinging to him for dear life. You do not want to let him go, but he's just as stubbornly defiant as you are. Also, you know he's right, even if you don't like it. He holds you close, stroking your hair and making soothing sounds before he continues. "Listen to me. I swear to you I will find you again someday. It might not be next year or even five years from now. But as long as I'm alive, I'll always be lookin' for you, cuz you'll always have the best of me in your heart."_

_You look up at him, eyes still shining with tears. "You better or I swear to you I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."_

_You both laugh, but there's no joy in the sound. After a moment, his eyes become grave again. He bends down and kisses you one more time. "Now go. Just turn around and don't look back. No matter what, don't look back."_

_You nod, stroke his cheek one last time and both of you turn at the same time. You take a deep breath to gather your will and take the first step that leads you away from him. It takes every ounce of that will to stop yourself from looking back, running back into his arms and damn the consequences. By the time you lose that battle and peer over your shoulder, he's long gone._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I couldn't watch you go any more than you could watch me." He said in conclusion. "And I tell you what, I'm such a coward, I didn't look back."

I was crying again, remembering how it felt to know my heart was walking away from me, but he had to know something. "Logan, I didn't look back either, at least not until it was too late. I did go back there about three years ago, to remember the last place I saw you. The tree was still there and I walked through that whole little town, wondering if you'd ever stayed there or come back to it since then. I thought that maybe if you had, I'd sense it and I'd be able to track you down." I sniffed and wiped my eyes. "But I'm not the one who does the smelling people thing, that's all you."

"Now aren't ya glad that I did?" He said with a grin. I looked at him and tried to smile, but it was too difficult, I was still reliving those last painful moments. He cupped my face with his hand and kissed me hard. "I know I am, because now I can say this and know that it's true. Angela, I love you."

He kissed me again, holding me close and I clung to him with all my might. Our clothes started flying shortly after that and the lovemaking was fierce to say the least. For the first time since he walked into my dive, we were both remembering the same things and it made the night all the sweeter.

The next morning, we took our time cleaning up our campsite. After all, it was the scene of revelation for him and what I considered the site of our actual reunion, so I was reluctant to leave it. I vowed to figure out who owned this forest and buy it as soon as I could. I was going to build a house right on this spot and I was never going to leave it. But for now, we had to make our way to New York somehow.

I didn't realize what Logan was doing until about three hours later. We were still in a fairly heavily forested area, no signs of civilization anywhere. I hoped that meant that no one owned these woods and they'd be easier to buy. We finally came upon a fairly large clearing, about two hundred feet by three hundred feet. He stopped in the center, turned around a couple times and declared "This should do it."

I removed my backpack and sat down gratefully. "Do what?"

"I think we can get a ride from here. That phone you had still workin'?"

I checked my disposable cell. It still had two bars in the battery meter. "Yeah, good enough, if you can get a signal out here." I tossed it to him and he caught it with ease. He punched in a number and walked to the farthest edge of the clearing, which was just far enough out of range that I couldn't make out what he was saying. After a few minutes, he walked back and tossed me the phone. "What was that all about?"

"Well, barrin' an emergency, we should have a ride out here in a couple hours."

"A ride? From where?"

"The mansion. The Professor's gonna send One-Eye to pick us up." He lay back in the grass and closed his eyes. "I tried to get him to send Storm, but she's in the middle of an exam with her senior history class and can't get away."

I was just staring at him. How the hell was he going to get us a ride all the way from upstate New York to here in a couple hours? Shit, we hadn't even seen a path big enough for a vehicle since we started hiking. His eyes were still closed, so he was completely oblivious to my confusion. I sat there wondering for a few minutes, then it dawned on me what he must be talking about. "Um, Logan?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not trying to tell me that he's flying, are you?" He didn't answer me. "Logan? He's not flying, is he?" I'm petrified of flying. Heights don't bother me, but I don't like to fly, not one bit. When I was still Hellcat, they had to dope me up before sending me on an op because I was so opposed to it. Even threatening me with vivisection wouldn't get me on a plane in anything but a completely stupor. I kicked him the ribs, which at least got him to sit up. "Logan! Is he flying?"

He sighed. "Yeah, he's flyin'. They have this kickass jet, you see."

"Do they have kickass drugs on this kickass jet? Cuz if they don't, the only ass getting kicked will be yours."

"Don't worry, darlin'. It'll be fine, trust me." He pulled me into his arms and did his level best to make me not think about flying for the next couple of hours. Which, I admit, worked like a charm. We were lying quietly in the grass when a loud noise alerted us to the presence of something large approaching. We stood quickly and I followed Logan as he ran just inside the trees. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw the aircraft touch down, but it wasn't because it was pretty (it was). It was because there was NO WAY I was setting foot on that thing without at least several thousand milligrams of Phenobarbital.

The engines powered down and a ramp in the back lowered. A moment later, a good-looking guy wearing what looked like red sunglasses came sauntering down the ramp, afrown on his face. Logan scowled, but approached him anyway. I followed behind him, reluctantly. I knew that he would scoop me up and force me on that thing if he had to, so I was primed and ready to scurry up the nearest tree if he so much as flinched in my general direction.

"Logan, didn't we tell you not to make headlines when you left?" The guy said, sounding pissed. "And what did I tell you about taking care of my bike? Not to mention getting involved in a fatal accident. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Piss off, it's not what you think." He growled back. I did some quick math and determined this was the Cyclops that Logan was always talking about.

"Oh yeah? Let's see. There's a nasty motorcycle accident in Detroit where YOU happen to be staying. The passenger is killed almost instantly, but her body mysteriously vanishes from the morgue twenty-four hours later. Now, reports say that she escaped, but I've never seen corpses lively enough to do something like that."

Logan took a deep breath and held it, his shoulders hunched. I'm pretty sure he was counting to ten. "She's…not…dead."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Logan turned and motioned for me to stand next to him. I was a bit wary, I still didn't want him to try and get me on that plane, but I was tired of the dick-waving contest going on in front of me. I took a tentative step forward. "I mean, she's not dead. She's right here." I gave Cyclops a little wave. "Is this lively enough for ya?"

To give him credit, he at least didn't take that last bit of bait that Logan threw at him. His mouth dropped open in surprise and he walked over to us. "Whoa, this is HER?" He asked with a bit of skepticism.

"Yeah, it's me, what of it?" I shot back. "Haven't you ever seen anyone come back from the dead before? Happens to me every time I look in the mirror."

Cyclops shook his head in disbelief. "You've been spending too much time with Logan. You sound just like him."

I smiled, but not in a friendly way. "Oh, me and Logan go way back. Further than you can imagine." I leaned in and lowered my voice. "We saved each other's lives, you know."

Cyclops just shook his head again and started back to the jet. "Come on, let's get going."

"Thanks, I'll walk." I said, taking a step back.

Cyclops turned and looked at me, then back at Logan with a frown. "What are you talking about? It's perfectly safe, come on."

I took another step back. Logan sighed and dropped his pack, walking over to me calmly. I was still ready to move if he so much as laid a finger on me. When he was a few inches from me, he leaned his head down and whispered. "Look, I know how you feel about this. But we'll be outta here and back at the mansion before you know it. If I have to, I'll toss you over my shoulder and carry you on like baggage."

I swallowed. "Logan, I can't. I just can't. And you'd never catch me to toss me over your shoulder anyway."

He sighed and glanced away, but a slight tensing in his shoulders warned me that he was going to make a grab for me. I threw my pack in his face and scurried up a fifty-foot pine that was a couple feet away. It's harder to climb with front claws only, but not impossible. Cyclops seemed surprised by my display of agility; Logan was spitting mad. He popped his claws.

"Look, I'll chop this damn thing out from underneath you if I have to. Get down here and let's go."

"No way, I'm not moving. I'll get a train to Westchester in the next town and meet you there."

"I thought I already told you I wasn't leavin' you behind anymore. And I don't want to risk anyone recognizin' us from the news. Now get your ass down here."

I didn't realize that I'd been outflanked until a red beam hit the tree just above me and Logan swiped the trunk from below. I felt the tree shudder as he hit it again, then it started to list to the left. I couldn't go any higher, it seemed Cyclops had wanted to make sure of that. I rode the tree until it was about twelve feet from the forest floor before leaping off, rolling and springing to my feet. What I didn't count on was Logan being ready for that and scooping me up.

"Let me go! Logan, I swear I'll rip the skin from your back if you don't put me down this instant!"

He just swaggered to the plane, scooping up our packs on the way. He didn't put me down until the ramp had been raised, then strapped me into the seat across the narrow aisle from his. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't unbuckle the straps. Cyclops was chuckling to himself as he prepped for takeoff. I whipped my head around and leveled my best glare at him.

"What's so funny, asshole?" I hissed.

"Well, that's hard to say." He replied. "On the one hand, I've never seen anyone so opposed to getting on a plane that they'd climb a tree to avoid it. On the other, I'm imagining Logan getting the crap beaten out of him when we get back." He contemplated for a moment before finishing. "Nope, it's definitely Logan getting beaten that's the most amusing." He turned to me with a smirk. "I could get to like you." Before either of us could retort, he fired the engines on the plane and we were off.

To say that the flight was brutal for me is an understatement. I was born long enough before such things were common and I'm still a little hardwired to believe that man should not fly. There was also the panoramic view out the front of the jet that was completely lost on me because it just looked like a whole lot of "long way to the ground" to me. I don't get airsick, but I do panic. And I was as bad as can be when that jet finally landed. I was in the middle of planning the many tortures I was going to visit upon Logan's person when I heard a voice in my head. "Angela, I'm Professor Xavier. I'm going to do something to make you relax. And if you would be so kind as to not get Logan's blood all over my school, I would greatly appreciate it." Before I could formulate a reply, I felt my panic diminish to nothing. Logan and Cyclops simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief and the ramp lowered as my straps miraculously unbuckled themselves. I hopped out of my seat, stalked over to Logan and punched him as hard as I could in the stomach before leaving the plane. His breath left him in a rush, but I just turned my back and stalked off the plane. The sound of Cyclops' laughter died away behind me.

The bay doors opened before me and I found myself in some kind of underground complex. I was immediately on alert, as the last time I found myself in one of these, well…I became quite the little killer and my daughter died. I was getting ready to bolt back to the landing bay when some doors opened to my left and a distinguished looking gentleman in a wheelchair glided towards me. I narrowed my eyes with suspicion, knowing that evil doesn't always wear an ugly face. As soon as he spoke, I knew my fears were unfounded.

"You must be Angela." He said. I recognized his voice as the same one I heard on the plane. "I apologize for invading your will a little while ago, but Scott assured me that it was better for everyone if you were calmed before you were let off the plane."

"Scott?" I didn't know a Scott.

"Cyclops. He told me what was going on the moment he landed. I have to agree with his assessment. Those were some terribly, um, creative things you were planning to do to Logan."

"I still haven't decided not to."

"Well, if you insist on it, I'll make sure you get some Danger Room time with him so you can work out your frustration."

I couldn't help but like this guy. He reminded me a lot of a man who used to live down the road way back in my first home, before I knew I was a mutant. I smiled in spite of my still burning anger. "What's a Danger Room?"

Xavier smiled. "All in good time, my dear. First things first, are you hungry?" I nodded. "Very well then. Storm will show you where the kitchen is, you may have anything you like. Am I to assume you'll be rooming with Logan?" I nodded again and blushed. "Good. I'll have Scott take your belongings there." He reached out and grasped my hand. "My dear, welcome to my home."

Home. How long it had been since I had one of those that felt permanent. I just hoped that the jinx that seemed to follow Logan and me hadn't followed us here.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was sitting in the kitchen, getting better acquainted with Storm and munching a massive turkey and cheddar sandwich when Logan finally came in. I stiffened a little, but I didn't hurt him when he put his hands on my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. Storm gave us a curious look when he did that. I decided to field this topic in my own way.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's starting to remember some things, but forgot that I hate to fly and have a penchant for revenge. But don't worry, I promise I'll get all the blood out of the carpet when I'm done tearing him limb from limb." I popped some chips in my mouth and smiled. Storm merely looked up at Logan, who cleared his throat uncomfortably and went over to the fridge.

"Oh my. Remind me not to get on your bad side. Anyone who thinks they can tear him apart is frightening indeed." She said with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, she's scary all right." Logan piped up, sitting across from me with a sandwich of his own. "Her code name used to be 'Fluffy' back in the day." I threw my empty pop can at his head, which he ducked with no problem. He just chuckled and tucked into his sandwich.

"Storm, is it too late for me to get my own room? I'm starting to feel suddenly single."

"Oh no, don't get me in the middle of your little spat. But just in case, I'll get all the really expensive breakables put away for safekeeping." She looked at her watch and stood up. "I have to go, I have a class in five minutes. You two behave yourselves."

"You know me." Logan said with a smirk.

"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of." She smiled at me. "You're a brave woman. I'll catch up with you later."

She left the room and I finished my sandwich in stony silence. Whatever whammy the Professor had done to me was starting to wear off and although the panic was gone, the thoughts of revenge remained. I was just getting to the part where I did interesting things with piano wire when a voice with a very Southern accent shouted Logan's name from the door and a whirlwind of mostly black hair threw itself into his arms. Now it was my turn to quirk an eyebrow.

"Hey kid, how ya doin'? Stayin' outta trouble?" He said after the whirlwind let go, revealing itself as a very lovely, very YOUNG girl.

"I'm good, how're you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya." He gestured to me with his pop can. "Rogue, this is Angela. Angela, this is the one I told ya about."

Rogue looked me over suspiciously. It was a little unnerving, mostly because it was the same thing Logan would do to someone he didn't trust. She really was an extremely lovely girl, with long dark that had a streak of pure white in the front. Closer inspection showed that it came in that way, she didn't bleach it out. She was wearing a very tight camisole style tank top in ruby red, a short jean jacket, flared jeans and black gloves. I smiled at her, trying to put her at ease.

"Hello Rogue. It's good to meet you."

She turned to him. "Who is she? Why is she here?" Even more stuff like Logan. Just how well did they know each other? I was starting to worry.

"She's a very old friend of mine. More than a friend, actually." He cleared his throat. "She's my girlfriend."

"I didn't think you ever had one a those."

"Yeah, well. Angela here helped to save my life back at Alkali Lake. It's a long story, can we talk about this later?"

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him then relaxed. "Yeah, I suppose we can. But I'm gonna hold ya to that." She looked at me again and relaxed a little more. "Sorry 'bout all that. He's my friend and I don't want to see him get hurt."

"I understand, Rogue. Maybe you and I can sit down later and I can explain a few things too, ok?" She considered this briefly then nodded. "It's a date then."

She hugged him again and then took off out of the kitchen. Logan smiled and went back to his sandwich, but I simply glared at him until he looked up. "What? Somethin' on your mind, darlin'?"

"Don't 'darlin'' me, Logan. What was that all about? I was starting to feel like the other woman."

He threw his head back and laughed in earnest. "Other woman? Oh, that's a good one." He took a long drink of his soda, then proceeded to explain how he'd met Rogue in Laughlin City and the events that led to their arrival at the mansion. "In a way, it's because of Rogue that I'm here at all. I promised to take care of her."

"Mmmhmm. And just how good of care has she gotten?"

It was like a light turning on behind his eyes as he finally understood what had me so upset. His smile vanished. "Oh, Angela, it's not like that."

"Oh sure." I leaned forward. "Logan, she acts just like you. I don't mean you have some shit in common, she gave me the same once-over you'd give a potential threat. That alone tells me that she's got quite the, uh, intimate perspective on you."

He laughed out loud again, but it was harder for him to stop this time. It only pissed me off further. When he finally calmed down, he took my hand in both of his. "Darlin', you ain't wrong about that, but it ain't what you think, either. Did you notice those gloves? And the fact that she's wearin' long sleeves when it's so warm out?" I nodded. "Whenever she touches someone or someone touches her bare skin, she absorbs their energy, their life force. If it's a mutant, she absorbs their abilities, too. Right after we got here, she heard me screamin' in my sleep and came down to my room to try and wake me up. I didn't realize who she was and I stabbed her right through the chest. She knew she'd never make it, so she touched my face til the wounds healed." He swallowed hard with regret. "A couple days later, the whole Liberty Island thing went down."

My eyes widened with shock. "You were there? You were a part of that?"

He shook his head. "Yeah, but we went there to stop Magneto." He went on to explain the events in great detail.He even admitted that he'd gotten his ass handed to him by some mutant named Mystique. But I felt my anger begin to melt when he told me how he'd saved Rogue almost at the expense of his own life. "No one was sure I was gonna make it, but I did. Poor Rogue, she absorbed so much of me that sometimes she acts just like me, does things on instinct the same way I would."

This was the man who thought he was an animal. This beautiful, selfless man believed he was nothing but a heartless killer. Suddenly, my revenge plans didn't seem so important anymore. I slid off my stool and walked around to him. He looked me in the eyes and barely managed a weak smile as I slipped my arms around his waist. He sighed and held me close. After a moment, I stepped away a bit, but kept a loose hold on him.

"Logan, the next time you worry that you're nothing but a killing machine or an animal, you need to remember what you just told me. A psycho killer would never sacrifice himself to save a girl he really barely knew. An animal would never have bothered to bring someone back from the dead. And a machine would never have cared enough to try." I kissed him softly. "And if you ever wonder why I've always loved you, well…now you know."

He gathered me in close again and we stood there for a long time. A slight sound in the hallway outside caught both of our ears and we whipped our heads around to see Cyclops standing there, his expression blank. Logan scowled at him; I just went back to my stool.

"The Professor wants to talk to both of you in his office, if you have the time." He said, his voice carefully neutral.

I shrugged and stood up again. "Sure, whatever." I glanced over to see Logan stand, his sandwich in his hand. He took the lead out of the kitchen, not sparing a glance at Cyclops. However, as I passed him, he said my name and I stopped. "Something on your mind?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that there's been a lot of upheaval around here lately. You're a new face and people will be curious about you, especially the older students. I just wanted to warn you that the kids might ask you all kinds of stuff that you're not expecting."

"Such as?"

"Well, it's obvious that you and Logan are close and it doesn't seem like a new thing to either of you. So I'm sure you'll get a whole interrogation from Rogue about that. But you also have your own mysterious past and everything, so the rest are going to want to know about that." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "And well…you're a new, attractive female, so don't be surprised if some of the older boys get curious about you."

I narrowed my eyes a little. Was he blushing? "Older boys?"

"Look, I'm just saying…" He trailed off.

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh, I don't doubt that one bit." He looked down at his watch. "Shoot, I have class in a few minutes. If you like, I can sit down with you later, maybe help you get settled."

Was he hitting on me? "Excuse me? What makes you think I'm going to stay here?"

"You mean, you're not?" He blurted then snapped his mouth shut.

"I've only been here what, an hour? I haven't gotten that far yet for fuck's sake."

"Hey, I just want to help out, make sure you don't have a rough time of it around here." He took a step forward and touched my forearm. "I want to make sure you know you're amongst friends."

I looked down at his hand on my arm, then looked him in the eye with an icy glare. "I know who my friends are. And I really can take care of myself." I jerked my arm away.

"Well, being around Logan, I'm sure you can." He replied with barely concealed disdain.

That did it. I took another step forward, my face just inches from his. "You leave him out of this." I hissed. "You don't know shit about us and it's really none of your business. And if you ever touch me again without permission, you'll find out why they call me Hellcat." I spun on my heel and went in search of Logan.

I caught up with him a few minutes later standing in the front hallway of the school. Every muscle in my body was tense and he took one look at me and knew something was wrong.

"What happened? He say somethin' to you?" He asked, his scowl deepening.

"Something, yeah. Nothing I can't handle." I took a deep breath, counted to five and let it out. "I can see why you don't like the guy."

"If he said somethin' offensive, I swear I'll break his fuckin' neck and dance on the corpse."

"No, not offensive, not like that anyway. Just…we'll talk later, ok?" He glared at me. "Ok? Come on, we have a meeting."

I could tell he wasn't ok with it, but he didn't have a choice now. He held the door open for me and closed it behind him. The Professor was sitting near a window, a pair of armchairs nearby. I took the one closest to him. After Logan was settled, he adjusted his chair so he could see us both and smiled.

"Feeling better after your snack?" He asked. I nodded. "Good. Now, Logan was telling me that you've known him for quite some time, is that correct?" I nodded again. "I was wondering if you would allow me to read your mind and get an idea of what kinds of things were done to him. It may help me to reverse some of the damage."

I shuddered. "Professor, with all due respect, there's quite a bit that I wish I could forget. I still think he's the lucky one, he's got amnesia." I leaned forward. "I was not a very nice person back then. It took me a long time to undo most of that they did to me. I know I didn't get all of it, some things just can't be unlearned. I did terrible things and I don't want anyone to see that part of me. That chapter is closed and I want it to stay that way."

He took one of my hands in his own, but I didn't sense that he was trying to manipulate me in any way. "My dear, I understand that you've done terrible things. I also understand that the person you were has no bearing on the person you are now. But you were close to Logan for a long time and there might be clues in the things that happened that might help me find some answers." He sat back and looked at us both. "I won't lie, reading his mind is like watching a slide show at an extremely fast speed. It's not an easy thing for me to do and that's saying something. It's as though something doesn't want him to dwell on any particular thought for long enough to link anything to it."

Logan's head jerked up sharply at that. "What? How can that be?"

"I don't know, but it's the way that it is. It also explains why you get things in small flashes, although it seems that those flashes have been getting longer since we returned from Alkali Lake."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, when I saw that lab where they…altered me." He suddenly looked at me sharply. "And again when I saw her for the first time, but I didn't make the connection then." He sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "But it makes sense, doesn't it? If they did put somethin' in me, I dunno, a post-hypnotic thing or a telepathic suggestion…" He raised his eyes slowly. "Or that chip you thought they were workin' on."

Now the Professor's eyes became sharp. "Chip? What chip?"

I sat back in my chair. "I don't know much about it. The only schematics I was authorized to check out were for security systems, building layouts, stuff like that. The other stuff was classified. But I overheard a couple of the scientists talking about a chip that could be inserted into the part of the brain that controls memory." I closed my eyes, trying to remember. "I couldn't hear them clearly, they were down the hall from me, but it was something that would randomly send an impulse to the brain to keep the memory from storing information. But they couldn't get it to stop scrambling things they wanted to be remembered, the stuff they were teaching us." I opened my eyes.

"How long before they altered Logan did you overhear that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, a few months, maybe five or six."

"Interesting." The Professor sat back, deep in thought. I glanced over at Logan, who now looked excited that there might be an answer after all. The silence stretched on for several minutes, so I jumped a little when the Professor spoke again. "Tell me, would they have put that in during the rest of Logan's procedure?"

"I would imagine so. There wouldn't be any way to insert it after the adamantium, after all. So yeah, if they did perfect it, then that would have been the sensible time to do it."

"Chu…Charles. Can we find out?" Logan was sitting at the very edge of his chair now, almost shaking with tension. "Is there any way to get a look in there and find out?"

"I don't know, Logan. But I swear that I will do my best to try."

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**AN: **Ok, not so cliffie as others, but it works for me...:) And hey! We are officially past the halfway point here...i'll let you in on a little secret, too! This story is technically done...:) I have a bit of polishing to do here and there, which i will do as i upload chapters, but i might be able to update even faster than i already do...:) Special thanks to my beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for all their hard work and dedication (even though i think they offered so they could read everything before you everyone else!)...Mucho love to Da Big Kitty (tm) for his expertise in helping me keep canon characters in character and for being an inspiration (i.e. Pain in the ass!)...And last, but not least, to you the readers for keeping up with it and especially to those who have reviewed...you know, i love reviews, it means people are reading and i like that!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** It's around here somewhere...the first ten chapters have it, nothing has changed since then...

**AN:** This chapter and the next take place at the same time, so you get a double update today! Who do ya love?

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Chapter 12.

(Logan)

I have to say, finding out that there really might be another way to get back all of my memories made every nerve in my body hum with excitement. I was already so grateful to Angela for giving me back so much, but the thought that I could get it all back was overwhelming. We stayed and talked to Chuck for a little longer, but I was so restless that I asked him if we could just continue later. He probably knew that I needed to work off some of this new energy, so he let me go without argument. Angela stayed behind with him.

I considered going to the Danger Room, but I actually didn't feel like beating shit up. Rogue was in class, so I couldn't go talk to her. And the entire planet would be consumed by nuclear holocaust before I confided in One-Eye about anything. With few choices left, I decided to go for a run around the school grounds. I bolted to my room (now "our" room, since Angela would be sharing with me) and changed from my jeans into one of the thousand pairs of "Xavier School" sweats that could be found everywhere in the mansion, leaving my tank top on. I kicked off my boots and trotted outside in my bare feet.

I paused on the patio and did a few stretches to warm up before setting off at a fast jog. The school grounds are an interesting mix of open grassy areas, woods and there's even a stream that runs along the westernmost border. I tried to run the entire perimeter at least three or four times a week, partially to blow off steam but also to make sure that everything is secure. Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, Stryker's invasion of the mansion had affected everyone deeply. Some of the younger kids still woke up crying and a few of the older ones had taken to patrolling the halls at intervals through the night. Chuck didn't like it, but I could understand why they did it. No one wanted to be caught lying down in case something like that happened again. I made a mental note to talk to Chuck later about doing more to beef up security around here.

My run took me from the back lawn to the edge of the woods and I entered the cool shade gratefully. The birds fell silent and small creatures stopped what they were doing as I passed, leaving the place in a silence so deep I could almost feel it. My thoughts once again turned to the conversation that had just happened in Chuck's office. It was kind of a relief to find out that maybe I could get everything back, all the way to wherever and whenever it is I come from. I remembered Angela had said something to me about stories I told her from World War I. I did some quick math on that and even if I'd enlisted at the minimum age of eighteen, that would make me over one hundred years old right now. That left eighty-five years that were more or less a complete blank to me. The thought stopped me in my tracks.

Jesus fucking Christ. Did Chuck know or even suspect I might be that old? Did Angela? Could this have something to do with how Stryker knew about me? Could I have met him in a war at some time or other? Damn it, every time I thought I was getting close to something good, a thousand new questions reared their ugly heads to just complicate things further. Not to mention, if I really was over a hundred years old, what kinds of things had I left behind? Did I have any family? Had I ever been married, had children? Was I the oldest living person, much less the oldest living mutant? It was just too much.

I walked over to a massive pine and sat down against the trunk, clutching my head. What would happen if they figured out what was wrong with me and all those missing years came back all at once? The memories of Angela and the time I actually spent at Alkali Lake had come back pretty gradually until the previous day. But that was really only about a year of my life. Much as I wanted to believe that I'd be able to hold it together, I knew what was most likely to happen. I'd go completely feral, unable to deal with that much information all at once and the animal would take over until it all processed through my subconscious and I could handle being human again. It wasn't a thought that made me happy. In fact, it downright scared me.

I didn't want to let go like that ever again. The last time it happened was the escape from Alkali Lake, a memory that was now so clear to me I almost wished it would go back the senseless blur it had been before. Although I was eager to see, now that the whole thing had been revealed to me, if the dreams wouldn't stop. Sure, with Angela around, I slept a lot better than I had in a long time. But even with her there, the dream had still come and I almost cut her damn leg off in the bargain. Shit, how would she feel, knowing she was with the oldest man on the planet? Talk about your May – December romances.

Then again, she'd hinted that she was older than she looked, too. Hadn't she said something like, "anyone who says time heals all wounds hasn't lived as long as we have. If everyone could have more than 80 years, they'd know"? What did she mean by that? She also had a healing factor, so maybe it was slowing her aging, too. Or maybe her nine lives thing restored her body to a physical state that was close to her apparent age of thirty or thirty-five. I would have to ask her about it.

I stood up and continued my run. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the main part of the school grounds, some of the classes had let out and there was a group of girls including Jubilee and Kitty Pryde lounging around on the grass. I knew some of the girls in the school had some kind of crush on me, but those two didn't try to hide it. As I jogged past them I could feel them ogling me and whispering to each other. I didn't bother to try and listen in; it was probably a variation of the "hunka-hunka-burnin'-Canadian" that they liked to call me. If it wasn't bad for image as a tough, mean guy I would have been completely embarrassed. I settled for tossing a scowl in their general direction and kept going.

I made it back as far as the patio before Rogue came bursting through the glass doors to intercept me. "Logan, there you are!" She said as she trotted over to me. "I've been lookin' all over for you."

"Sorry kid. Had to clear my head. What's up?"

"Nothin'. Just wanted to see how you're doin' and all. We haven't seen you in weeks." We walked over to the reflecting pool and she sat on the edge. "But it looks like your vacation did you some good. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you almost looked happy."

I scowled at her. "Ah, don't kid yourself. I still have plenty of shit goin' to keep me surly for the next decade."

"You know, no one here would hate it if you were a little less surly."

"Don't hold your breath. There won't be a 'kinder, gentler' Wolverine for a long time."

She giggled. "Well, I'd say your secret is safe with me, but everyone already knows that you brought someone back with you." She looked up, squinting her eyes in the bright sunlight. "So who is she anyway?"

So, here it was, the real reason she cornered me out here. I sighed and sat next to her. "She's someone I knew, back at Alkali Lake, before these." I said, holding up my hand. "She was my partner and we did…a lot of bad shit together. She helped me escape."

"Is that why you left, to go find her?"

"No. I didn't even know who she was until a couple of weeks ago." I told her about walking into Angela's bar and just about everything that followed, with some heavy editing for adult content. "And now we're here."

"Wow. I mean…wow." She said looking stunned and if I wasn't mistaken, a little hurt. "It must feel great to have found someone who knows so much about you."

"Let me tell you, kid, it really does. But even with all these new answers and new memories, there's still a hell of a lot that I don't know. Even more than I thought."

"What do you mean?" She asked, frowning.

"Mmm, nothin' I wanna talk about, not right now. I'm still gettin' my head around it myself." She gazed up at me, looking even more hurt. "Look, it ain't personal, ok? It's just…this isn't the time, all right?"

"It's ok, Logan. You know I'll be around when it is time." The other kids started making their way into the mansion for lunch. "I gotta go. I'll see ya later." She smiled and followed the crowd back inside. I sat back down next to the water.

Damn it, why did this have to be so complicated? I knew Rogue had a crush on me; hell, half the girls did. But I could tell by the way she looked and smelled that she was jealous. It made me wonder if she had thought I was going to wait for her to get old enough to think of as more than a kid sister. As far as I knew, she was still going out with Bobby, but was she just dating him as "Mr. Right Now"? I groaned at the thought. Yeah, she was a sweet kid and all, but that's all she'd ever be to me. And with the new revelation that I was probably old enough to be her great-great-(how many greats?) grandfather only brought that home for me all the more. It suddenly made me feel even further removed from the people around me.

I stood up quickly and stalked back to my room, suddenly feeling the need for seclusion. I stripped off my clothes and got in the shower, just letting the hot water run over me, trying to wash away the feeling that I was still alone. How could I let myselfget any closer to anyone when I was probably going to live, stay young and strong, while everyone around me eventually died? Whether from sickness or accident or act of God, I would wake up one day to find that everyone and everything I knew was never coming back. Jean had only been the first in my memory.

My knees suddenly felt weak and I slid down the wall to sit under the beating of the water. What if I was wrong about Angela and I'd have to watch her die too? Just the thought was unbearable to me, how would I ever live with the reality? I searched through my newly found memories, but I couldn't find anything that led me to believe that I'd left her on that road all those years ago to avoid that possibility. But I also didn't find anything to let me believe it was anything other than a very real possibility. I was gripped by a sudden need to see her, hold her, to remind myself that she was real.

I dried myself quickly, pulled on my jeans and a clean shirt, then wasted five minutes trying to find both of my boots. I jerked the bedroom door open and walked quickly downstairs, back to Chuck's office. He said, "come in" before I had a chance to knock. I will always hate it when he does that.

"Hey Chuck. I was lookin' for Angela."

"I'm sorry, you missed her. She left a few minutes ago." He looked me over. "Logan, are you all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, fine. Where is she?"

"I don't know. I don't make it a habit of keeping track of people once they leave my office, you know." His eyes narrowed and he looked me over again. "Are you sure you're all right? You seem especially troubled right now."

"I said I'm fine." I replied through gritted teeth. "If you see her, can you tell her I'm lookin' for her?"

"Of course, Logan." I turned to go. "If there's anything you want to talk about…"

"No, there isn't. Just…just leave it alone, ok?" I left the office, barely resisting the urge to slam the door. I knew he was just trying to help, but he needed to understand that there are some things that I will never want to talk about, not with him. He might be a telepath, but he'd never been through the things I've been through and no amount of mind reading would change that. He was right, there are some things that are better left for the mind to discover on its own and this was one of them.

Back in the hall, I took a deep breath and tried to find her scent among all the others. It wasn't hard for me to do and I followed it outside to the patio. I inhaled deeply again and followed the thread around to the rose garden, where it was joined by another scent…Scott's. Growling deep in my throat, I sped up and found him alone on the path.

He turned as I approached and I held back the urge to just deck him. Mixed in with Angela's normal scent, I was now catching an undertone that had a sharp tang to it and I recognized it as the way she smelled when she was angry. What the hell had he done to piss her off? And why was he still standing? I caught another scent, this one mingled with Scott's. Whatever she'd said or done had scared the hell out of him.

"Logan, back off." He said, putting his hands up to ward me off. "I don't want to deal with you on top of everything else."

"What the fuck did you do to her, 'Clops?" I growled, my fists clenched so tight I was sure my palms were bleeding.

"Nothing! Jesus, I came out here to apologize to her and she damn near took my head off!"

I gritted my teeth. "Why did you need to apologize to her in the first place?"

He took a step back, hands still raised. "Look, it's nothing, ok? Just give it a rest." He turned to walk away, but I grabbed his arm.

"If it's nothing, why did she try to take your head off?" I growled. "She wouldn't do that without reason."

"Unlike you?" He said with a sneer. "I think you guys deserve each other. She's just as crazy as you are." He jerked his arm away. "For the record, I was trying to apologize to her for something that happened right after we got here. I offered to help her get settled and she took it the wrong way. So just step back and drop it, all right?"

"She don't need your help, she's got me." I turned my back on him and walked away. As if I needed another reason not to like the guy, now he was saying randomly offensive shit to my woman. I reacquired her scent and followed it to the woods I had left not all that long ago. It was easier to track her out here, since most of the kids didn't come this far out and the only other human scent in the air was my own from earlier.

I finally hit the end of the road at the base of what was probably the tallest tree on the grounds. I shook my head, chuckling to myself then grasped the nearest branch and started climbing. She'd gone as close to top as she could before settling down in the crook formed by the trunk and the smallest limb that would support her weight. She had a cigarette clamped in her fingers and she was absently shredding the bark with her other hand. I stopped on the branch just beneath her.

"Hey darlin'. Somethin' on your mind?"

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	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **My characters are mine...the rest belong to other people.

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Chapter 13.

(Angela)

After Logan left, I turned back to the Professor. "So, what aren't you telling him?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, keeping his tone even.

"Don't bullshit me, Professor. I've been around too long to fall for that. I'm no telepath but I do know people. There's something you're not telling him and I want to know what it is."

"Angela, I assure you. If I knew anything that would be helpful to Logan right now, he'd be the first to know."

"Then I guess it's all right to tell me now and he can be the second to know. Or the third, since you technically knew first."

He chuckled. "I can see what he sees in you."

"Thank you. But you're not changing the subject that easily." He leveled a cool gaze on me, his face betraying nothing. I sighed. "Look, if you don't want me to say anything to him right away, I won't. But I can't promise I'll keep anything from him forever. If I think he has a right to know, then he'll know."

He considered my words carefully before continuing. "How much did he talk about his past with you when you were partnered with him?"

"Not much, really." I said with a shrug. "He was very private about himself even back then. But I did get a few stories out of him about World War I."

Xavier's eyes widened briefly, a flicker almost too subtle to catch. "Then, you already know what I haven't told him."

"If you're asking me if I can do math, the answer is yes. I've had a good estimate on how old he is longer than you have."

"Does it bother you? That he's old enough to be your grandfather?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. "Oh, Professor, you have no idea what you're talking about!" He looked a bit confused, so I explained. "I haven't told him yet. Hell, I never told him before, back in the Bad Old Days." I leaned forward and looked him right in the eye. "He might be old enough to be my brother, maybe my father, but he's not old enough to be anything else. I was born in 1901."

It's always neat to surprise a telepath. After all, a really good one like Xavier can poke around in your head and you'd never be the wiser. But I also knew from things Logan had told me that Xavier would never do that; he had his own personal rules about it. "Dear God, I had no idea."

"Yeah, I know. Look good for my age, don't I?" I said with a smile. "And before you ask, no he isn't my brother or my father. I do know that he was born in Canada somewhere. I was born in Virginia. I didn't move into Canada until some time after Prohibition."

"Are you absolutely certain he was born in Canada?"

I nodded. "Yep. It's one of the few things he told me before they started to strip his memories away."

"This is actually great news. I've been working under the assumption that he'd only been in Canada as far back as Alkali Lake. But if he was born there, it'll make searching for clues to his past that much easier. Do you know which province?"

"Not offhand, no. But I'm pretty sure it's not Ontario, his accent is all wrong for that. If I had to guess, I'd say Alberta, maybe British Columbia."

"Thank you for this news. I'll contact some people I know up there and get them on this right away." He smiled briefly. "I also suppose this means that I don't need to convince you to let me read your mind. You seem to have a complete memory."

"That I do. I'll tell you what you want to know on one condition."

"Whatever you say."

"If I don't want to talk about something, I won't. Ever." Now it was my turn to give him the cool gaze, the impassive face. "There are some things that no one needs to know and other things I wish I could forget. So, don't push me about those things, ok?"

He nodded in agreement. "Very well, I can accept that." The clock in the corner gave a chime. "Looks like it's time for lunch. We'll save that conversation for another day. In the meantime, why don't you have a look around?"

I stood up and we shook hands. "Don't mind if I do. Thanks, Professor."

We left the office and he went to join the others for lunch, while I gave myself a tour of the mansion. I made mental notes about all the possible escape routes and to also ask Logan later about the locations of the tunnel entrances he'd told me about. Once I felt comfortable enough with the inside, I went out.

I knew the grounds were big, but it wasn't until I started to explore them that I realized just how big they really were. Except for desert and tundra, there was a bit of everything. I decided to leave the undeveloped portions of the grounds for later and turned towards the rose garden.

I'm not one of those women who enjoys working in gardens and being all up close and personal with nature. I respect nature but I do so from a distance and let those who are actually good at keeping growing things alive do so. I've often thought that I have a secondary mutation of "the Black Thumb", because I can't even keep a cactus alive. The first thing I noticed about the garden was how wonderfully it was maintained. The bushes appeared carefully tended, yet they didn't have that look of artifice that so many other rose gardens seem to have. There were more varieties there than I could ever name and a couple that I suspected were personal crossbreeds done by whoever it was that took such great care of it. I slowed my pace on the path, pausing every so often to bend over and drink in the heady scent the flowers were giving off. I was so lost in reverie that I barely heard the footsteps behind me.

They were too heavy to be Rogue or Storm (the only other women I'd met so far) and too light to be Logan, so I guessed it had to be Scott. I turned slowly, arms crossed over my chest and fixed a blank stare on him. "What do you want?" I asked, making sure to let a note of irritation color my voice.

"I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I'm sorry if I came across as…"

"An asshole?"

His mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yeah, pretty much. Jean was the one who usually helped the new people out at first, but since she…well, I'm still not used to the role, if you know what I mean."

I softened enough to uncross my arms. "Your apology is accepted. Now, if you'll excuse me." I turned to continue my walk, but he came up beside me to walk along. I resisted the urge to sigh.

"I can walk with you. I love the rose garden. It's so…relaxing. And it's a nice place to get acquainted with someone."

What the hell was with this guy? I'm usually pretty good at reading people, but a good portion of doing that is to read their eyes. But I couldn't see Scott's eyes, which from what I understand is a very good thing. However, everything I could read from his general demeanor and attitude just screamed restraint. And not the kind where you stop at two beers or you don't punch the guy who just grabbed your ass. No, this was so far beyond that it was almost painful to look at. It was like he kept everything about himself under such complete control that absolutely nothing leaked out. No emotion, no personality, he might as well have been a carefully constructed robot that could mimic being human in all things except those that actually make someone human.

It only took me a few seconds to come to this conclusion. "For the record, getting acquainted is a usually a two-way street. Since I have precious little that I want to share with you, there isn't going to be much acquainting going on."

He stopped and (I assume) stared at me and I turned to him. "Oh, so you're going to pull a Logan and just expect me and everyone else here to trust you from the onset without knowing anything about you?"

"There's nothing I could ever tell you that would make you trust me. Probably quite the opposite." I crossed my arms again.

"Why, because you were at Alkali Lake with Logan? From what I can see, you seem to have come out of it all right."

"Then you're not looking hard enough." I turned to leave, but a hand on my right arm stopped me. Scott sure had a selective memory.

"Look, I didn't come out here to argue with you. I just wanted to apologize to you and to try to help you understand that you are amongst friends. If you'll let me."

"I've already accepted your apology, take that for what it is. Now remove your hand or I will." I have no idea what he was thinking, but the hand stayed.

"Hey, come on. Let's start this all over, ok? It's time for lunch, I'll take you there."

I'd had enough. I didn't even think about it, I just acted. I grabbed his hand with my left, spun him around and shoved. He stumbled forward, barking his shins on a stone bench nestled between a couple perfectly lovely yellow rosebushes and turned back towards me, his hand instinctively reaching up to the side of his visor. But the hand never made it; I grabbed him and twisted his arm upward, holding it underneath my own while my other flashed forward, claws bared and I stopped the slash a mere hairsbreadth from his throat. Without releasing him, I leaned towards him so my face was only inches from his. "I told you before, never touch me unless you're invited. And you are not invited, not now, not ever. You've got two strikes now. Pray you never get a third." I let him go and started walking away.

"I should have known you'd be as much of an animal as Logan! You're just as crazy as he is!" He called after me. I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly to face him.

"That's where you're wrong, pal." I smiled coldly. "I'm crazier. If you can't remember anything else, remember that."

I turned and walked as calmly as I could until the path took me around a bend and out of his sight. Once I was alone, I kicked off my shoes and took off running. I didn't know the grounds at all, but I could see a bit of woods towards the back of the property and I headed towards them. I was so pissed off I could have killed something, but a good hard run will always do in a pinch. It didn't take me long to be amongst the trees and once there, I slipped out the claws on my feet and picked up my pace. I let my instincts drive me, even though they were screaming to me to just leave this place and never look back. I knew in the back of my mind that Cyclops wasn't a threat to me in any way, shape or form, but it was just too much too soon. I hadn't been around other mutants for so many years and now I was surrounded by more than I had ever seen in one place, including Alkali Lake. Even then, the only one I'd spent any real time with was Logan. I'd seen the odd telepath here and there, but most of the other ones had been kept separate from us, since they weren't part of Stryker's main program. I'd only had occasional glimpses of them as they were brought in and on a few occasions, they'd been sent to spar with me. But that was usually only a single session and then I'd never see them again. I could only guess that I was a kind of litmus test in that way. If they did well against me, they were advanced. If not…I didn't even want to think about what happened to them.

If that makes me a bad person, then fine, I'm a bad person. But all I'd wanted back then was to survive, get my daughter (and later Logan) out and just get so far away they'd never find me. I didn't expect anyone besides Logan to understand that and no amount of talking about it would make anyone else get it. Once we'd gotten out of there and after we'd parted, I had done everything I could to stay so far under the radar that no one would ever connect Hellcat with any of my personal incarnations since that day. The closest had been seven years ago, just before I'd moved to Detroit and that had been sheer coincidence.

I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and saw that I was underneath what had to be the biggest tree on school grounds. It was a massive oak, a wonderful example of the species and easily the largest one I'd seen in a very long time. I looked up into the branches and decided to climb. I slipped out the rest of my claws and started up the trunk, not using any of the other branches until I had to. I climbed as high as I thought I could and nestled into the crook where a branch met with the trunk. It bent slightly under my weight, but not enough to worry me. I lit a cigarette and let my thoughts drift back to the near-miss so long ago.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_You're sitting in a little bar on the outskirts of Chicago, drinking the latest in a long line of beers and wondering what the hell you're doing. You'd most recently been in California, but the imp of the perverse had contrived a way to make it so you couldn't safely stay there anymore and you'd moved on. To all appearances, you don't have much to your name: a battered backpack, the clothes on your back and another bag that holds a lacquered box, about the size of a cigar box and a few other items. What no one else can see is that you also have about $9000 hidden in the lining of that bag, though all the money you've been buying your beers with has come out of your jeans pocket. You have more money than that, but it's in various accounts that you've set up over the years. You spare the time for the thought that you might just be ridiculously wealthy by now, but you've never tried to put all your cash in one place before. Better to pretend that it's not there, so that when you do really need it, you'll have it._

_You finish your beer and signal to the bartender for another one. He looks at you incredulously; how can someone your size drink this much and not be drunk? He doesn't know how many years of practice you have at this. However, he's not paid to make drinking decisions for anyone, his job is to pour the drinks and take the money. He sets it down in front of you; you slide him another bill and tell him to keep the change. You've just taken your first sip of the cold brew when a voice somewhere behind your makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. You don't want to, but you have to look. The voice is hauntingly familiar, but you can't place a face to go with it. You rotate your head as though cracking your neck and take a quick glance around the room. You find the source of the voice sitting at a table in the corner with a male companion._

_Recognition widens your eyes and you casually turn back to your drink, but now your hearing is focused completely on that table. It's something that took you so long to perfect, but if you concentrate, you can functionally ignore any noise that you want, filtering it out to concentrate on the sounds you need to hear. What was that guy's name? Walker, Walter? Something like that. At any rate, he'd been at Alkali Lake, he'd been there when they killed you over and over to augment your skeleton. He'd been a big part of your training. He was a walking dead man._

_"Frank, what was so hellfired important that you had to drag me out here while I'm in the middle of an important project?" The male companion was saying._

_"We think we have a lead on them, John." Frank said. It was then you remembered; his name was Frank Wallace._

_John swallowed hard. "You mean…you don't mean?"_

_"I do." Wallace said. "I'm actually quite impressed with them, really. It's a credit to our training that they've avoided detection this long. But a contact of mine in Los Angeles sent me this." You hear him hand something to his companion._

_"What's this? 'Body of unknown robbery/murder victim missing'? Come on, Frank. It's Los Angeles, anything could have happened."_

_"If you keep reading, you'll see the part that tipped my guy off. It seems that the body went missing with no one entering the morgue, no sign of a struggle and the only other things missing were some scrubs and a pair of shoes. When my guy questioned the night guard, he said it was like she just got up and walked away."_

_"You really think it's her, don't you? Hellcat."_

_"Yes, I do. And wherever she is, you know Wolverine can't be far behind."_

_"I don't know, Frank. We trained them well. I'd bet they split up years ago, after that fiasco in Ontario."_

_"Be that as it may, if we can get her back it'll go a long way to getting the program up and running again. We'll just wipe her mind and set her loose to bring Wolverine back in." You hear him settle back in his chair. "If anyone can do it, she can."_

_"Well, if she vanished in L.A., why are we here?"_

_"My guy had a picture of her and after that corpse walked away, he took it to every train and bus station in the city, using the cover of a concerned brother looking for his missing sister."_

_"Why not the airports too? She could have flown out."_

_"Oh, that's right. You weren't there long enough to know. Hellcat's petrified of flying. We couldn't get her on a plane without enough Phenobarbital to kill a bear. She'd never fly by choice."_

_"Ah, I see. So, what did your man find out?"_

_"A woman matching her description bought a one-way ticket to Chicago. I have teams deployed all over the city right now, looking for her. We know what she was last wearing and she's probably traveling light. She's probably changed her appearance, so we have enhanced photos with every possible change she could do. We'll have her in a couple days, mark my words."_

_You don't stick around to hear the rest. It's time for a strategic retreat, followed by an ambush. You calmly pick up your pack and head out the door, running a finger through the short, spiked hair, which has been changed from the jet black you had done back in L.A. to a violent shade of turquoise. You're pretty sure their enhanced photos don't show anything like that. You pause on the sidewalk, scanning the area for a good place to grab Wallace. You figure when they leave, they won't do so together, so you'll only have a small window in which to operate. There's an alley about forty feet away and you slide into it, hiding behind a dumpster. You stash your packs behind a pile of boxes and slip off your shoes before settling in to wait. Ten minutes later, you hear footsteps approaching the alley. You slip silently from your hiding place, clinging to the shadows that paint the walls. You risk a very quick glance and you smile when you see that it's Wallace, all right. Your muscles tense as you prepare to spring._

_As soon as he's even with your position, your hand flashes forward and clamps around his throat. You drag his struggling form into the alley, your hold on him making him essentially mute. You toss him against the shadowed wall, making sure he can see it's you. His eyes widen in recognition, but you just give him a smile that makes his blood run cold._

_"Hello, Wallace, you unbelievable bastard." You say. He opens his mouth, but you spring forward and clamp your hand over it. "Long time no see." You see him reaching behind him, probably for a weapon, so you slip your claws out and slash him across the forearm, severing ligaments and tendons. He makes a strangled sound that would have been a scream, if your hand weren't clamped over his mouth. "Stupid move, Wallace. You should know better than to try that with me." You reach behind him and remove the gun, popping the clip out to the ground at your feet and tossing the weapon as far down the alley as you can. "Now, I'm going to let go of your mouth. If you say even one word that isn't an answer to a question, I will kill you immediately. Understand?" His eyes get even wider, but he nods in agreement. You slowly release him and back away a mere step. "Where's Stryker?"_

_"I don't know." He replies, wheezing. "Somewhere in Canada, looking for the prodigal son, but I don't know where."_

_"Prodigal son? You mean Lo…Wolverine?"_

_He nods. "Yes. It's the name he gave the search for you two, Project Prodigal. As soon as none of the bodies from that blizzard turned out to be you two, he's been obsessed with getting you back."_

_"I see. So where's the main base now?"_

_"We recently moved back to Alkali Lake. We'd been in the Hudson Bay area for a while until we could move everything underground up there."_

_You consider this for a moment. "So, the project was never terminated?"_

_"No. We just shifted focus for a little while, trying other methods of controlling your kind. We needed to find something that would keep them from being able to break conditioning and escape like you two did. Once he found it, Stryker moved back to Alkali Lake."_

_"And what is this new method?"_

_"I don't know. He's got some mutant there that can make people believe anything he wants them to. I think Stryker's using something from him to concoct a mind-controlling agent that'll even work on Wolverine."_

_"How does he know?"_

_"He's got another one, some little Asian mutant. She heals like he does and it works on her just fine. Stryker's probably augmenting her even as we speak."_

_A cold rage wells up inside you and you decide you don't need to hear any more. But you do have one more question for Wallace before you're done with him. "Is everything you told me true?"_

_"Of course it is. A dead man has no reason to lie."_

_You smile again. At least he knows what's about to happen. "Wow. And here I was kinda hoping you'd forget how well you trained me. Pity. Oh well, at least I'll give you something you never gave me, not once."_

_"What's that?"_

_Your hand flashes out and tears across his throat. As he falls, your slash your other hand over his face, slicing it open to the bone. As he struggles for breath, you look at him emotionlessly. "A quick death."_

_As soon as he's dead, you go through his pockets and find his car keys, then retrieve your packs and leave the alley. Chicago is too hot right now, you'll have to leave. Maybe you could try Detroit. Now that you have a vehicle, you can at least get out of this city with ease. With your mind made up, you find his car and use it to make your escape. The next day, a headline in the Chicago Sun Times reads "**Military Official Found Dead in Alley**". The smaller headline underneath reads "**Early reports indicate he was mauled by animals**". You just smile._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was alerted to the fact that I had company by a rustling sound in the tree beneath me. I caught a very quiet grunt of effort and recognized it as Logan, so I didn't bother looking. A few moments later, I heard him settle on the branch beneath mine.

"Hey darlin'. Somethin' on your mind?" He asked.

"Just thinking." I replied, taking a final drag off my cigarette then stubbing it out on the branch in front of me. "What's up?"

"I ran into Scott a little bit ago. Said you almost took his head off. I just wanted to find you to ask why you didn't wait so I could watch."

I couldn't help it, I smiled. "Well, there wasn't much time." I shifted a little so I could look down at him. "Is he always a complete asshole or is he just incapable of listening to simple directions?"

"Why, what'd he do?" Logan asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing really bad or anything. But earlier, before we met with the Professor, he grabbed my arm to get my attention. I told him never to do it again. He tried to apologize a bit ago and he did it again. Is he stoned or just stupid?"

"My votes for stupid." He said with a chuckle. "But that doesn't scan with what I know about the guy. He ain't normally the touchy-feely type."

"Maybe it's my charming personality and rapier wit. He can't keep his hands off me."

He growled. "He better or I'll take them off."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm pretty sure he'll think more than twice before trying anything like that again." I sighed. "Logan, do we have to stay here? I keep having second and third thoughts about this."

"Darlin', I ain't gonna lie to you. I ain't had anythin' like a home for so long that it surprises me how much I do wanna stay here. But if you really don't want to, then we'll go, anywhere you like."

"Why? I mean, what makes you want to be here so badly?"

He took a deep breath before speaking. "First, I did promise Rogue I'd take care of her. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the kid's got a crush on me, but that's not why I promised. I did it because she was the first person in so long that wasn't afraid of me and…I don't know, somethin' in me just wants to keep her safe, you know? And her mutation…not bein' able to touch people, it hurts her. None of the other kids or the adults here will come right out and say it, but they're all a little afraid of her. She walks around and there's always a little extra space between her and everyone else. I spent fifteen years in isolation because I wanted to. She's surrounded by people and more alone than I ever was."

I chewed on my lip as I thought about that. I'd done the same as he had for a long time, but I realized I needed to be around people if I was ever going to conquer the animal inside me. "So, is that it? You just want Rogue to know there's one person who won't keep their distance?"

"In the beginning, yeah. But then Liberty Island went down and before we had a chance to think, Stryker invaded. And I realized that night that this place needs me. I was in the right place at the right time and for the first time I can remember, I was able to use everythin' I can do to help. Deep down, I always knew that I'd been used for somethin' terrible. Why give someone unbreakable bones and nine-inch metal claws unless you want them to kill and be really good at it? Now I know the claws were always there, but it don't change anythin'. Now that I remember the Bad Old Days, I know that whole part of my life was based on lies. So, maybe before they got me, I wasn't always just a killer. Maybe I was doin' good with these things and now I got a chance to do it again."

"Damn it. Who said you were allowed to keep making sense in my general direction?"

"Darlin', I already told you before that it happens from time to time." He smiled at me and I scowled back. "So, why do you always perch in trees when you wanna be alone?"

I shrugged. "Mostly because people don't normally follow me when I'm in one. Something about heights freaks most people out."

"Good thing I'm not most people. But it's not very comfortable up here."

"I like it." I lit up another smoke. "So, is that the only reason you followed me all the way up here? To see what happened with Mr. Uptight?"

"Actually, no it was somethin' else. But I'd rather talk about it on the ground, ok?" I nodded and we made our way to the ground. Once down there, he gently took my hand and led me to where a nice little stream wound its way through the grounds. I smiled when I saw it and sat down on the bank to soak my feet. A few minutes later, he surprised me by joining me and twining his fingers with my own.

"Ok, we're out of the tree. What did you need?" I looked over to him, studying his profile, but his expression was carefully guarded. I waited a little longer but he remained silent so I nudged him. "Earth to Logan? I can't read your mind so if there's something you want to talk about, you'll have to use actual words."

He smiled a little at that, then turned to me. "Angela, remember back in Detroit, you said I told you stories from World War I?" I nodded. "Well, I got to thinkin' about that earlier and…do you know? How old I really am?"

"No, not exactly. But I have an estimate. And I don't care about that, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not." He said softly, his eyes dropping to our joined hands. "It made me wonder how much I've lost, how many people are back there where I can't remember them. How many I've probably had to watch as they just got old and died but I stayed just the same."

I nodded, my throat suddenly tight. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

His head snapped up and he looked at me intently. "Do you? Cuz it scares the hell outta me that everyone I know won't be here in a hundred years, but I probably will be. I thought my claws made me a big enough freak, but to find out that I'll never die of old age? That I'll wake up one day and it'll be the day I have to bury you?" He swallowed hard. "Even worse, that I'll have to get up the day after that and wonder why your nine lives couldn't save you from that and I'll hate you for it, hate you for leavin' me like that. It's killin' me just thinkin' about it and that's probably another forty years away. But that day will come and you'll take the best of me with you again."

I wiped a tear from my cheek before placing a hand gently on his face. He looked so vulnerable and I loved him all the more for it. "Lover, you won't have to worry about that, all right?" He furrowed his brow. "I'm not quite as old as you are, but I'm also not as young as you think I am." And I proceeded to tell him when I was born and some of the things I'd been through. I also told him my theory on the nine lives, how it didn't just bring me back but also restored me to what would be considered a woman in her prime. As I told him, the look on his face went from fear to amazement to relief and finally to joy. When I finished, he took me in his arms and held me close, and I felt a shudder pass through him. We stayed that way for a long time before he looked up and kissed me, pouring so much emotion into that one gesture that it took my breath away. Then, without words, we professed our undying love to one another and fell asleep to the soothing music of the water.

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**AN:** Two more down, how many chapters to go? Only me and my beta readers know...:) Special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for doing that beta thing and to DBK(tm) for his continued inspiration (coughharassmentcough)...Extra Special thanks to Dee (MidLifeCrisis) for her excellent advice...:) And Super Extra Special thanks to everyone who reviewed...think of them as the equivalent of bribing me with chocolate...the more i get, the happier i am...of course, if anyone wants to send me chocolate, PM me and i'll give you an address to send it to:)


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** See previous chapters, I'm too tired to be clever today...

**AN:** As some of my readers may know, I like to use updates as a way of celebrating with all of you...normally, this wouldn't be out for another day or so, but my mom's coming home today! So, in celebration of my happiness, here's a new chapter to help you all with yours...enjoy!

Chapter 14.

(Logan)

The first week at the mansion was tough on Angela. I understood what she was going through, being the new novelty and all. At least One-Eye had the sense to stay out of her orbit as much as possible, mealtimes being the only times it was completely unavoidable. Still, I kept my eyes on him and what I was seeing wasn't making me happy. Sure, he hadn't tried to talk to her alone since that first day, but I kept on catching him looking at her from across the room and I thought I'd seen him watching her from his window during our morning run a couple times. Maybe I'm just paranoid (ok, yes I AM paranoid, sue me), but it sure seemed like he had quite the obsession with looking at my woman. I think I know how he felt when I first showed up around here and I didn't like it.

Still, she handled herself well. On the second day, she and Rogue had a long sit-down after classes were over and from then on, they were all but inseparable. I don't know what they talked about and neither one of them are telling, but I figure it was just girl stuff anyway and I don't think I really want to know. I did notice that she treated Rogue just the same way I do, with no fear of touching her skin even accidentally. It did wonders to boost Rogue's morale, which was probably the best thing to come of it.

She also finally got to meet Kurt, who'd been away for the week on some kind of personal religious retreat. He's a nice enough guy and I can understand how his faith sustains him, but I also knew that Angela has her own beliefs and they have precious little to do with the heavenly father. I've heard her say things like "gods only know" or "gods willing", so I wasn't sure how the meeting would go over. My fears were completely unnecessary, since they actually got along famously, each recognizing that it doesn't matter who or what you have faith in, as long as you have faith. The message knows where it's going; you don't need to give it a certain name. My respect for the blue elf went up another notch.

Neither one of us wanted to admit that One-Eye was right about anything, but his prediction that the students, especially the older ones, would want to know everything about her came true. It wasn't uncommon to find her in a hallway or sitting in the lounge with a group of kids asking her some of the strangest things. The best one, however, came from a little boy named Ryan Hiller.

At the time, Ryan was seven years old and one of the rare mutants whose abilities were present from birth. He didn't have a powerful gift, rather he had limited metamorphic abilities. Unlike Mystique, who can imitate everything about a person, Ryan was only able to change his hair, eye and skin color at will; he still looked like himself with only those features changed. It quickly became obvious that he had a little crush on Angela the third day she was here.

She'd been cornered in the lounge (again) by a group of the younger students, who weren't interested in what she could do so much as other things about her. I heard questions like "why don't you like Mr. Summers?" and "if you're like Logan, how come you're not so hairy?" Finally Ryan, who's a little shy, got up the nerve to ask about her hair. She told me she felt naked without streaks and had gone to town and gotten a wide array of unnatural colors to choose from. At the time, she had bright blue streaks, which contrasted nicely with the platinum blond she was still sporting. Ryan seemed fascinated by it and worked up enough nerve to ask her.

"Um, Miss Angela?" He asked, looking at his shoes.

"Yeah? What's your name?"

"Um, I'm Ryan. Um, is your hair like that cuz you're a mutant?"

She giggled like a little girl. "No, sweetie. I put the blue stripes in it because I like them. Why?"

"Um, cuz I like them too. I think they're cool."

"Thank you! I'm glad someone around here doesn't think they're silly."

"Oh no, um, I think they're really cool."

Later that day, when Storm brought the younger kids to dinner, she sat down next to us with a big grin on her face. She leaned over to Angela, snickering. "Don't look now, but I think you have a fan." She said.

"What are you talking about?" Angela asked, looking around. Storm pointed to the table where Ryan was sitting with a couple friends and we couldn't help but laugh. Until that day, we hadn't known he could control his mutation to that extent, but there he sat with platinum blond hair streaked with bright blue. From that day on, no matter what she did with her hair, his would match it within a few hours. I confess that I thought it was cute (not a word I normally use for any reason, but hey, it was). Angela thought it was embarrassing, but never said anything to stop him.

By Saturday, she realized that she was just going to have to sit down with the older kids and answer any questions they had. She was getting tired of being ambushed at every turn and figured she could just do it all in one afternoon to get it over with. She and I met with the Professor, Storm, Kurt and One-Eye that morning. I don't have to say that the idea was less than appealing to at least one of them.

"Let me get this straight," Scott was saying. "You want to get the kids who are twelve and over in one room, let them ask you anything they want and you're going to answer them?"

"That is the traditionally accepted format of a Q and A session, yes." She replied dryly. Kurt barely suppressed a laugh.

"And what if they want to know about things you did with Logan? Or how many times you've died? Or how many people you've killed? What will you say then?"

"I'll tell them the truth. If there's something I don't want to talk about, I'll tell them to drop it or the session is over. Otherwise, I don't see any reason to keep anything from them."

"So you're just going to sit there and regale them with tales from your days as a trained killer?"

"I wouldn't say I'm going to 'regale' them with anything. I'm just going to tell them the truth. It's not like I'm going to describe everything in vivid detail or tell them how long it takes for someone to die of a slashed throat. I'll give them the bare essential information. Besides, they might find themselves in a situation similar to something that happened to me and they'll be better prepared for it."

"I'm sorry but I…" he began, but Chuck cut him off.

"Scott, I can see the wisdom in what she wants to do. She'll be much less of a disruption if we let her get rid of the mystery on her own."

"I agree vith the Professor." Kurt added. "It vould haff been much easier on me if I had thought to do that." One-Eye looked at him and I would bet that he was glaring, not that we could see it or anything.

"Well, I don't agree. The kids are smart enough to be afraid of Logan. They seem to think Angela's the best thing since sliced cheese."

"Hey now, I'm right here." I put in. "And the kids aren't afraid of me."

"Then how come they don't flock around you like you're the Pied Piper or something?" He asked.

"Don't ask me, I don't know." I replied with a shrug. "Maybe because I haven't spent a lot of time here, they never got around to it."

"And maybe it's because the last time you were here, we got invaded and you killed a bunch of people in cold blood."

"Now wait just a fuckin' minute!" I yelled, standing up. "I did not kill one goddamn person in cold blood! Those assholes were here with LIVE AMMO and they kidnapped some of these kids! If you think for one minute I was gonna sit back and wait until someone got shot with more than a fuckin' dart to do somethin', then you shouldn't have left me in charge!"

"Logan, please, calm down." Said the Professor mildly. "No one is saying…" I cut him off.

"Don't patronize me, Chuck. It doesn't suit you."

"I assure you I would never do any such thing. We all understand that you did what you had to do to keep the children safe."

"No, I don't think all of you understand." I said, glaring at Scott. "In fact, I don't think any of you understand."

"No, it's you that doesn't understand." He replied. "Bobby told me what he saw. You could have disabled those men, but you made the decision to kill them without trying anything else."

"And what would you have suggested I do, offer them tea and biscuits so we could discuss it like civilized people?" I snorted. "Those people had automatic weapons with real bullets, brought them into a school full of sleepin' kids. They were ready for some kind of resistance and were ready to respond with lethal force. If I hadn't done what I did, we wouldn't have had missin' kids, we woulda had dead ones. So who would you rather have coolin' on the deck, bub?"

"All I'm saying is that you could have knocked them out and moved on."

"Um, excuse me?" Angela said from her seat near the window and we both turned. "Not to sound like devil's advocate here or anything but…wasn't he outnumbered like fifty or more to one?"

"From what I understand, yes." Scott said, sounding wary.

"So what's the problem again?"

"He killed those men outright without trying another way first."

"Ok, I get that. What I don't get is why you're so pissy about it."

"Because he didn't even try, that's why!"

"Look, all I'm saying is, if you wait to give someone a chance to kill you, it's already too late and you're dead." She stood up and walked over to him. "Unfortunately for you, that's a permanent problem. Can you honestly say you wouldn't have done whatever you had to do to ensure the safety of the children?"

"I wouldn't have killed them, if that's what you mean."

She looked thoughtful for a minute before continuing. "Right. I get it now." She turned to the Professor. "So, can we get the kids in the lecture hall by three o'clock?"

"Yes, I think that can be arranged." He replied with a smile. I wondered what they'd said to each other. "So, if there's nothing else, I have a few calls to make." He said, essentially ending the meeting.

We left the office and I walked with Angela out to the reflecting pool. I had just put my arms around her when we both heard footsteps and my nose told me it was Scott, back for round two. I sighed and turned as he approached. "Whattaya want now, One-Eye? I'm tryin' to have quality time with my woman."

"I don't care what the Professor says." He started without preamble. "You were wrong that night. You murdered those men."

"Murder is a harsh word to use when one is protecting their home." Angela said before I could say anything. "Personally, I think he showed remarkable restraint. He only killed what? A half dozen? Back in the day, he would have clawed his way through five times as many and still had time for a cigar before he had to leave."

I couldn't help but smile. The look on the Boy Scout's face was priceless. "See? I told you it could have been worse."

"Not everyone has so little respect for human life, Logan. Some of us want to use our powers to help people."

"Hey, you're not the only one, bub. But I'm not gonna sit back and hope that the guy I just knocked down isn't gonna come to and shoot me in the back. For me, that's no big deal. I've been shot more times than you've even seen action. Had it been you, well," I leaned in and grinned, "I'm sure the funeral would have been touching."

"Just remember, Logan. You pull something like that on a mission with me and I'll turn you in myself."

"You do that and you won't live to see the light of day." Angela said, and then smiled. "Tell you what. How about you come to the Q and A today and you can ask me anything YOU want. I'm sure it'll be enlightening." She kissed me and walked away. Scott stayed there for a second before going off in the other direction. I just stood there, marveling at my luck. On the one hand, One-Eye was pissed off, which is nice. On the other hand, my woman was about to shock him into white hair. All in all, it was a very good day.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I didn't think he'd actually take her up on the offer, but when three o'clock rolled around, Scott was sitting in the back of the room. This whole thing was voluntary for the kids, but I wasn't surprised at all when all of them showed up. It took a few minutes for them to settle down, but once they did Angela got their attention and kept it for the next two hours.

At first their questions were simple. How does your mutation work? How old are you really? How are your claws different from Logan's? Some of them were downright silly. Is that your real hair? Well, except the blue part? Do you ever paint your claws in fashion colors? Did you really used to own a bar? But they eventually got down to the really tough questions.

"So, um, we hear that you and Logan go way back." It was Bobby talking. "Does that mean you knew him when…you know…he got his claws and stuff?"

"Yes, it does. In fact, that's where I met him." She replied, very matter of fact.

"So, did they do anything to you like they did to him?" That was Jubilee, half looking like she didn't want to know.

Angela nodded. "They put the adamantium on my skeleton, too. They couldn't do my claws because they don't stop growing."

"Wait a minute." I looked and saw it was a boy named Jesse Aaronson. "Logan only survived that because of his healing factor. How did you survive?"

"Technically, I didn't." She replied. I cringed and saw that Rogue did the same. "In fact, I technically didn't survive it about six or eight times. My main mutation is that I don't stay dead. I call it my nine lives, even though it's been a lot more than that."

"So how does it feel when you're dead?" That was Jesse again.

"It's too hard to explain, really. The closest I can come is that I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen, kind of like that time while you're sleeping between snooze alarms. You know that it's going to happen, the alarm will go off again, but you don't know when. Except that I am also aware that I'm not breathing and I can't really think or anything either. It just feels like waiting in the dark."

A couple kids shuddered at that, but they weren't stopped. "So, how many people have you killed?" That came from a girl I didn't know, I'm sorry to say.

Angela looked to me, then for some reason to One-Eye before answering. "I honestly don't know. I never kept count. More than a hundred, less than a thousand is about the best I can do."

"So why did you do it? We know Logan doesn't really remember what all he did, but you do. So, why?" Leave it to Rogue to ask the ones no one else wanted to ask.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to discuss that with you in detail. Just know that I wasn't doing it willingly, for myself. They had leverage on me and I had no choice." Good answer.

"How long has it been since you killed someone?" All eyes turned to the back of the room. Scott asked that one.

She looked him right in the eye. "A little under a year."

"Why?"

"It was either that or let him rape me. Even I can be surprised sometimes. What would you have done?"

"Would you do it again? Even if the circumstances weren't that extreme?"

"If you're asking if I would just go off and kill someone for kicks, the answer is no. But if you want to know if I would kill again, then yes, I would. If I had to."

"What's the worst way to die?" That came from Kitty Pryde, which was unexpected to me.

"There are no good ways to die." She replied. "They're all bad."

"So what did you and Logan used to do back when you knew each other before?" That was Jubilee again. Angela looked back at me and I gave her a small nod. If she wanted to tell that story, it was hers to tell.

"Different things. Sometimes it was sabotage, infiltration, stealing files or whatever. Mostly, it was stuff that isn't very nice."

"What do you mean, 'isn't very nice'?" One-Eye asked. "It sounds like you didn't do anything that was very nice in the first place."

"I'm pretty sure I don't have to go into details about what could possibly worse than sabotage and theft, Cyclops."

"But how could you possibly do things like that and then stand up there and tell us that it's still ok to do them now?"

Angela sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Look, you have to understand that the things we did…like I said before, they had leverage on me. I'm not going to tell you about Logan's reasons because that's not my story to tell. If he wants you to know, he'll tell it. I was trained in stealth, infiltration, sabotage and assassination. I know hundreds of ways to kill someone and make it look like an accident. So does Logan. We got away by sheerest luck. If you want to get technical, we are still running from those people. We are the very best at what we did and they want very much to get us back. The things they did to me, to make me into the perfect mindless, emotionless killer…I never want anything like that to happen to anyone again.

"I have these gifts, these abilities that even most other mutants don't have. I have all of this training and yeah, it's nasty business but it's so ingrained that it's as much a part of me as my claws. So, since I have these awesome talents at my disposal, don't I also have a responsibility to use them, to protect those who can't do what I do? Don't I have an obligation to turn their killer back upon them and make them pay for what they did, especially if it means I can stop them from doing it again? They will not hesitate to use deadly force against any one of you. And all of you have to be prepared to do what needs to be done to protect those who are not gifted the way you are. Each and every one of you will someday find yourselves as the right person, in the right place, at the right time, with exactly the right gifts to do what is necessary. Even if it isn't very nice."

She stood up and looked at each person in the room, making eye contact with all of them in turn, finally coming to rest on Scott. "The next mutant they grab could be one of you. They could get you when you go to the mall, or on a field trip, or they might even try to get in here again. A few of you have already been taken and sure, the X-Men came to save you. But you wouldn't have gotten out of there if Jean hadn't done what she had to do to save Cyclops. You wouldn't have gotten out if Nightcrawler hadn't been there, to put Storm in the right place at the right time to save the Professor. Even Magneto played his part, much as we all hate to admit that. If Logan hadn't done what he did, you wouldn't have been able to get out of the base. And again if Rogue hadn't taken the initiative and flown the plane to where you were all standing. But it was Jean who had exactly the right gift at the right time to do the right thing. I know you all miss her and you wish there could have been another way, but she knew what she was doing and she knew there was no other way to save you all. Someday, each of you will have to make that choice because it will be the RIGHT choice. It won't be easy, but the right choice usually isn't."

She shifted her gaze from Scott to me. "When Logan and I escaped from Alkali Lake, I was the right person at the right time to help him get out. Yeah, I wanted out too and I saw this as my chance, but getting him out was my main goal. Had I not been there and killed a bunch of people to slow them down, neither one of us would be here today. Just think about what that would have meant when Magneto grabbed Rogue that day. Or when Stryker invaded the mansion. We got out and Logan was here when he needed to be. My choice back then wasn't easy, but I made it and I'm not sorry about what I did to those people." She looked away from me and back at the kids. "And if they ever show their ugly faces where I can see them, I'll do it again. Because it is the right choice and I'm one of the only people willing to make it. If that bothers some of you, I'm sorry but that's not my problem. I am willing to do anything that I am capable of doing to stop those people from harming anyone else." She again shifted her eyes to Cyclops. "Are you?"

The room was completely silent and I could tell that what she'd said had brought home a very ugly truth to everyone. She just stood up there, watching their faces and I knew then that she'd made up her mind. We were staying here. Finally, Rogue put up her hand and Angela simply nodded to acknowledge her. "Angela, I just wanted to thank you for being honest with us. I know it couldn't have been easy, but you didn't treat us like kids who don't know any better." She said, glancing back at One-Eye. "I think we've all heard everything we need to hear, so…thank you."

"You're welcome, Rogue. All of you, you are most welcome." She smiled at everyone and walked over to me, letting out a breath of relief. "Gods above, that was a tough crowd." She said, putting her arms around me and leaning into my chest. I wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. A few of the kids came up to us to say thanks personally as they left, but she just smiled at them.

I steered her out of the lecture hall and took her outside to the rose garden. The sun was lowering in the sky, but it was still warm and a breeze ruffled her hair. Hearing her at the end there had really gotten to me. I'd had no idea that she really hadn't cared if she got out of Alkali Lake alive, as long as I was safe. She'd never told me and I couldn't help but wonder why. We came to a bench and sat down, and I turned to her.

"You want to know why I never told you before." She said before I could ask. I simply nodded. "Well, by then I had a pretty serious death wish, like I told you before. I was pretty sure that you weren't attracted to me, because of prior circumstances, so I was running on revenge. I figured if I could get you out of there, but I could take out a bunch of them with me, then it would be enough. Getting out with you was an added bonus and you know the rest."

"Darlin', I would have never asked you to do that." I said, scowling at her.

"I know, Logan. Believe me, I know. But I didn't care. What I said was true, I'd do it all over again. Just like I know you'd do the same thing. Because we are the only ones who would be able to make that choice and live with the consequences. It's not like we haven't done those things before, after all."

"Just because you were a killer doesn't mean you still have to be." I said quietly. "You're a different person now."

"And so are you, even if you are too damn stubborn to see it. We've just shifted our homicidal tendencies to other targets, but it's still there in both of us. So, we'll use it to help people who need it, because we're the only ones who can."

"Yeah, I s'pose you're right. It's gonna be a lot harder, convincin' the others though."

"I'll just have to use my feminine wiles. I do always get my way, you know."

I chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "That you do, darlin'. That you do."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN (take two): **Many thanks to those of you who have sent me the lovely get well messages for my mom...you know who you are...:) Special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, my most excellent beta readers...kisses! Much love to DBK(tm) for his continued support and for offering to beat someone up for scaring away my muse...we both thank you for the sentiment...:) Last, but not least, Super Swanky thanks to you, my readers, for sticking with me...i guess my story doesn't suck as bad as i thought it did? Please review, they give me a happy...:)


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill...some people are mine, some aren't...

Chapter 15.

(Angela)

_A very loud snarling/growling/shouting noise awakens you from your sleep. What the hell are they doing out there now? You run your fingers through your hair before rolling off your cot and leaving your room, intent on investigating this sound. You figure it's not a security breach because there are no alarms going off. You make your way through the maze of corridors to one of the containment areas._

_Any questions you may have had die in your throat at the scene in front of you. The extraction team has brought in another "subject", the word they use for your kind. He's clad only in a pair of jeans that look like they were dragged beneath a troop transport and boots and if there's an inch of his skin that isn't covered in blood, you don't know where it is. His hands are cuffed in front of him, fisted, with his knuckles pointing towards his own chest. Just as it occurs to you to wonder why, he breaks his left hand free and three very long claws spring forth from between his knuckles. Ah, so this is the new "feral subject" that Stryker's had such a hard-on for these past few weeks. Looks like they finally ran him to ground. Poor bastard._

_The mutant lashes out with his claws and slashes one of the soldiers so deep in the thigh you just know he'll probably bleed out from his femoral artery before anyone can get to him. Another soldier steps forward and hits him with a taser; this seems to just piss him off. You hear Stryker calling for a subdual team and you know that you'd be part of that, so you walk over to him. Three human soldiers join you, two of which have guns loaded with trank darts._

_"Hellcat, get in there and keep him busy so we can bring him down." Stryker barks. "Bastard keeps shrugging off all of our tranks, I don't know how."_

_"Probably the same reason he's covered in blood without a wound on him, sir. Which is the same reason your tranks stopped working on me months ago. He heals, his system adapts." You reply. You hear a crackle of electricity as another soldier gives the guy a bigger jolt with a bigger taser. That at least seemed to slow him down a bit._

_"Adapts? That fast?" Stryker looks incredulous. "We may have to put him in the same program with you."_

_"Whatever you say, sir." You reply, inwardly cringing._

_You take stock of the situation, then kick off your boots and slip out all of your claws. The new guy's back is to you and you approach warily, silently, but he knows you're there anyway. He spins quickly, taking a swipe at you with his claws, but you writhe out of the way and swipe at his face with yours. He barely dodges, but it gives you the chance to maneuver him so the two guys with the tranks will be able to flank him. The two of you circle one another, neither one sure who's the prey in this scenario. He again comes at you, but you dodge and lash out with a roundhouse kick to his back that rakes the claws on your feet across his flesh. He snarls in pain and goes down to one knee. The tranks hit him from either side and he falls forward, subdued for now. But the one thing you saw before Stryker did will stay with you forever. This guy should be bleeding like a stuck pig, thanks to the five deep slashes you gave him. Except they closed before your eyes before the tranks took hold._

_Stryker is barking out orders to get him into a level five cell and to have at least two telepaths work on him for the next thirty-six hours. You know that by the time you see this guy again, he'll be pretty mellow, his head full of suggestions that he's here by choice and part of a new elite special forces unit. They'll train him, condition him, then ultimately flay him alive and do the same thing to him they did to you. Except he won't get the advantage of dying every so often to relieve the pain. No, he'll live through the whole thing. If you can call this life "living"._

_Poor bastard._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was Tuesday afternoon and I was in the Danger Room, fighting with Logan. It couldn't rightly be called "sparring", because we were both angry, so neither one of us was holding back. It was no-holds barred and downright ugly. And all because people, even Logan, can be fooled by their eyes.

It all started just after breakfast on Sunday, when Scott asked if he could talk to me alone. I told Logan I'd catch up to him later and went with Scott outside to the patio. Naturally, I was on the defensive because I wasn't really fond of him at all and our last two meetings had been less than agreeable. He sat down on a bench and invited me to sit with him but I chose to remain standing.

"I've been thinking about what you told the kids yesterday." He began. "I've been trying to wrap my brain around the things you said and I just can't."

"Which part?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"All of it, really. But especially the parts about Jean." He swallowed hard. "I know she made a choice and I know it couldn't have been easy, but why didn't she let Kurt teleport her back after she had the plane off the ground?"

I softened enough to sit with him. "Scott, I wasn't there, so I can't tell you what was going through her head. I can only tell you what I would do if I was faced with sacrificing myself to save the people I care about."

"But it's not the same for you. You always come back."

"Sure, if no one gets a hold of my internal organs before I come back. But when I jumped into the fight to help Logan get out, I wasn't thinking about saving myself, not really. I didn't expect to make it out of there alive and part of me didn't want to. I used to have a pretty serious death wish, due to other circumstances. But today? Not so much. If I found myself in the same kind of situation as that escape tomorrow, I would still jump in and fight to the death to make sure everyone got away, because I have the ability to do so. Even if it meant getting back into their clutches and being tested to destruction. But I would make damn sure I took as many of them out as I could before they got their hands on me."

"See, that's the other thing I don't understand. You're so cavalier about death, whether it's your own or you taking life. How can you act like it's no big deal?"

"Because it isn't." I shrugged. "When you've died as many times as I have, you get a unique perspective on the whole concept. And when you've faced off against people who are hell bent on killing you, you learn quickly to kill them first. It's a bad world full of bad people, Scott. You could have categorized me as one of the bad people a long time ago, but people can and do change. I haven't killed anyone just because I wanted to kill in a very long time. Of course, if one of Stryker's merry band of torturers showed up here tomorrow, I'd have to fight Logan for the right to kill them first, but they would die. Not just because I want them all dead, but because they deserve it."

"No one deserves to be murdered when they could be brought to justice."

I shook my head with a bitter chuckle. "Scott, it's you that doesn't understand." I shifted so I was sitting sideways, looking right at him. "Those people will never be brought to justice, not as long as you live. They are well-protected government monsters. What they do is so deep under the term 'black ops' that I'm willing to bet no one knows what they're really doing. The only way to stop them is to do so in a very permanent manner. Or did you already forget what Stryker almost made you do at Alkali Lake?"

He paled visibly, his hands shaking a little. "No, I haven't. I could see what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself. I could have killed Jean. I'm still not sure how she had the power to stop me, but she found it somewhere."

"And that woman that Logan killed was under the same mind control that you were. Not to mention, Stryker almost succeeded in making the Professor kill every mutant on the planet. Had you found Stryker before Logan and Magneto did, would you have been able to hold back enough to spare him in the hopes of getting justice?"

He thought about that for a long moment. "I don't know, I really don't. I like to think that I would have, but I'll never know for certain." He sighed. "I guess that's what scares me the most, the fact that I don't know if I could have left him alive."

"Don't let it scare you, just learn from it. You may be a mutant, but you're also human and you have all the same messy emotions as the rest of us." I don't know what prompted me to do so, but I took his hand. "You have to own the dark parts of your soul or they will eventually own you."

He gave a brief snort of bitter laughter. "What, like Logan?"

I tamped down the rising anger I felt every time Scott insisted on taking digs at Logan. "Logan isn't owned by his darkness. But with the way his memory is all fucked up, it's taking him longer to control it. There's still stuff he doesn't remember about Alkali Lake because there's no connection to me in those areas. But if you really think he's just an animal, then so am I."

"You're nothing like Logan."

"I'm more like him than you, I assure you." I replied, dropping his hand. "I'll tell you the same thing I told him before we came back here. Everything you see about me is a very carefully constructed façade. I would much rather be running barefoot through the wilderness chasing down some poor guy just because he saw too much. That's what they trained me to do, that's what they wanted me to be, a mindless animal. They tortured me, cut me open and augmented me, put me through things you can never imagine. They almost broke me, almost made me exactly what they wanted. They came closer than you'll ever know to making me surrender to the animal. And it's a struggle every day to keep that animal at bay. It's been over fifteen years and I still have to resist the urge to hunt someone down. Sooner or later, I'm going to give in to that urge and hunt down the rest of the monsters who did this to me and to Logan. And when I do, I'm going to make them suffer."

"Angela, I'm sorry. I had no idea…"

"I'm sure you didn't." I snapped, cutting him off. "And it's no different for Logan. You've been letting jealousy cloud your judgment when it comes to him. If you can get past that, you'd see he's really a good man who's willing to put his own life on the line to protect the people around him."

Scott sat there for a moment before standing abruptly. "You've given me a lot to think about, you know."

I stood and faced him. "Yeah, I know. No one ever said having me around would be easy." He smiled and reached over to grip my hand briefly before walking away. I shook my head, not really sure what had just happened, but I figured it could only mean he was starting to move on. I shrugged to myself and went in search of Logan. I found him back by the stream. What I didn't know at the time was that he'd seen me talking to Scott from across the lawn. I didn't find that out until much later.

The second thing to fuel this fight happened on Monday. The Professor had invited us to a staff meeting that morning, which was bewildering to me. After all, I wasn't a member of the staff and neither was Logan. But, we went anyway and had a bombshell dropped on us.

"Logan, Angela, I want to invite you both to teach the students self-defense." He began. "With your combined talents and training, I'm certain that we'll never have a repeat of the incident with Stryker."

"Now wait just a minute." Scott said. "I don't think that's such a good idea. They're trained to kill people."

"I know that Scott. Who better to teach someone how not to be killed than someone who's trained to kill you?"

No one could dispute that logic, so the Professor continued. "I would also like you to teach combat strategy and tactics to the older students who wish to learn them."

Again, it was Scott who disagreed. "Professor, do you think that's wise? These are children we're talking about. They have no business learning how to make war."

"They won't be learning how to make it, just how to fight in one. Whether we like it or not, there is a war on the horizon and it's our duty to make sure they're prepared for it."

"He's right, Scott." Storm piped in. "We have to ensure their safety above anything else. It would be imprudent of us to let them go with no way to defend themselves and others. Right now, they get basic self-defense but if things go as badly as I think they will, then they'll need so much more than that."

"But they're just children! They have no business fighting in a war."

"Like it or not, they'll have to." Logan said. "Do you really think that the people out there are gonna look at them and see nothin' but a bunch of kids? The secret about this place is out, bub. Everyone knows this place is full of mutants, no thanks to Stryker. It's only a matter of time before someone else gets in their head to come back and finish the job."

"Besides, they're not all just children." I added. "Some of these kids are already old enough to join the army if they want to. Some of them were already living on the streets for months, even years before they came here. Whether you want to admit it or not, we are outnumbered in this issue and we have an obligation to prepare these kids for the very worst. Keeping them wrapped in silk in this place is not going to do that."

Once again, my superior logic won the day and Scott grudgingly agreed that we were right. The Professor also asked Logan and I to use our experience and training in infiltration to create a new security system. No one could argue with that, although I'm sure that Scott would have liked to try. Even after our conversation the day before, he still had a lot of knee jerk reactions to both Logan and myself. I figured he just needed more time.

Once the meeting was over, we all went our separate ways. Those who had classes went to teach them, while Logan and I went to the lounge to plan ours. We decided the defense classes would all be co-ed, divided by age group. We also wanted to include using mutant abilities in the classes for the older kids, since they were the most likely to have some modicum of control over their gifts. The strategy and tactics would be confined to students fifteen and older, since they were the ones that would most likely need them. What we weren't planning on telling anyone was that we'd be training those older students to be an army, although Xavier would probably know anyway. But I got the impression that much as he abhorred violence, he was also realistic in the knowledge that a time was coming where it would be unavoidable. He may never resort to it himself, but that didn't mean that others wouldn't need to eventually.

After dinner, Logan went to the Professor to discuss working the new classes in with the existing class schedule. It was coming up on summer break and those kids that still had contact with their families would be going home. We wanted to give any kids that were staying the option to get a jump on the new classes over the summer so they wouldn't have to take them during the regular year if they didn't want to. Since I was at loose ends, I went for a walk on the grounds.

It didn't surprise me when Scott found me in the rose garden. I'd seen him lurking around the periphery since I got here, but he hadn't tried to speak to me privately before the previous day. I heard him come up behind me and I gave him a cool nod and a smile in greeting. "Hey Scott. What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, really." He shuffled his feet and looked around. "I just wanted to apologize for my outburst during the meeting. I don't like to think that it'll actually come down to war for us."

"No one does." I said and started walking. He fell into step beside me. "But not liking it won't make it go away. I was serious the other day when I said I have an obligation to use my gifts for good. Right now, that means I have to defend my own kind. Someday, I may have to use them to defend normal people against my own kind. An enemy is an enemy, no matter what face he wears."

"Am I the enemy? Is that why you're always so defensive around me?"

I shook my head. "No, Scott, you're not. I'm defensive because I don't fit into your black and white world. Something either is or isn't to you, you don't leave any room for middle ground. You want everything to be neatly tied up into its cubbyhole and anything that violates that sense of order is immediately suspect to you. But as soon as something chaotic shows up that can't be categorized, you immediately attack it whether you realize it or not. Logan and I embody that chaos to you and you've been reacting the only way you know how. And I've been reacting to that the only way I know how."

"Yeah, I've been a right bastard, haven't I?"

I put my hand over my heart in feigned shock. "Oh my gods! He admits he's wrong!" I laughed. "I wish Logan could see this. He'd have a heart attack."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "I can't promise that things will change between me and him. We have a bit of…history that'll be hard to let go of."

"I know and I'm not expecting a miracle. But maybe you can stop seeing him as the enemy, huh?"

"I'll try, that's all I can do." He smiled. Just then, a bit of dandelion fluff landed on my cheek and he reached over and brushed it off. I smiled back at him. "I gotta go. Papers to grade and all. See you around." He walked away and I gave him a wave. Now, what I didn't know was that Logan had seen the last part of the exchange from the window in the lounge. Again, I didn't find that out until later.

Which brings me to Tuesday morning. I'd begged off our usual morning run due to cramps (why can't the healing factor get rid of those?) and was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea, reading the morning paper. My story had gone from front page to a bare paragraph near the end, which meant I was no longer interesting enough to waste column inches on. All to the good, as far as I was concerned. I had just gotten engrossed in the comics when Scott walked in, yawning.

"Good morning, starshine." I said with a cheerfulness I didn't really feel. He simply scowled irritably. I laughed. "Just be glad I don't start singing it."

"Is your voice that bad?" He asked, fixing himself a cup of tea.

"Not at all. But it's such a chipper little tune, it tends to grate on ones nerves."

"In that case, thank you." He sat down at the island across from me and picked up the parts of the paper I'd already read. We sat there in companionable silence, it being too early for either one of us to be particularly chatty. A few minutes later, I got up to fix another cup of tea, a process that's usually pretty simple. I'm still not sure what happened, but I must not have had a very good grip on the teapot because no sooner had I picked it up, it slipped in my grip and hot water cascaded all down my front.

"Bloody fucking hell!" I yelled, dropping the teapot and jumping back. The water was just under scalding temperature and it burned like hell. Scott's head snapped up and he was out of his seat in a flash. Unfortunately, he hadn't been thinking about the water-slicked floor. He hit the puddle and slipped, crashing into me. I gave a most undignified shriek and we went down on the floor in a tangle of limbs with him on top of me. For some reason, this whole situation struck me as unbearably funny and I started laughing right away. A heartbeat later, so did Scott and we just lay there in the puddle, laughing uncontrollably. Until Logan walked in.

The only warning we had was the low-throated growl before Scott was picked up by the collar of his shirt and thrown into the wall, a fistful of blades inches away from his face. "What the fuck are you doin' with my woman?" Logan snarled.

I snapped to my feet and pushed him away. "Logan! Stand down! It's not what you think!" I yelled, standing between him and Scott. He pushed me roughly aside and lunged for Scott again. Scott, however, already had his hand up to his glasses, ready to pull them off. I again inserted myself in between them, hands raised to ward the off from each other. "Make up your minds now, boys. I'm either getting blasted or stabbed and when I recover, I guarantee I'll be cranky."

"Angela, get back and let me take care of this." Scott said reasonably.

"No. I gave you the options. Now back off or I'll kick both your asses."

"Darlin', I'll deal with you later." Logan said, breathing hard. "Right now, his ass is mine."

I stood my ground. "This dick waving contest has gone on long enough. I'm not about to be caught in the middle of it. One of you better walk away or you're both gonna be recovering in the infirmary in five minutes."

The seconds ticked by, feeling like hours. Finally, Scott lowered his hand. "In deference to the lady, we'll save this for later, Logan. But this is not over." Logan just snorted and Scott walked angrily out of the kitchen.

Logan retracted his claws and grabbed me by the arm. "What the fuck was that all about?" He growled.

"It was a stupid accident!" I hissed. "He slipped on some spilled water and we fell, nothing more!"

"Oh yeah? Then why all of a sudden is he treatin' you so nice? Even called you a lady. It doesn't look like 'nothin'' from where I'm standin'."

I narrowed my eyes. "What, exactly, are you implying?"

"I ain't implyin' nothin'. I've just been usin' my eyes is all. And the two of you have been lookin' pretty cozy these past few days."

I stepped back, bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

"Ever since you did that Q and A for the kids Saturday, I've seen the two of you hangin' all over the place. I saw you holdin' his hand the other day and yesterday in the rose garden."

"Oh for fuck's sake!" I said, rolling my eyes. "All you saw was me comforting him, that's all. We'd been talking about Jean and he was upset. Gods above, Logan, are you actually JEALOUS?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Of the Boy Scout? No way!" He replied, but I knew he was lying. I could hear his heartbeat speed up and I saw the faint flush that crawled up his neck.

I crossed my arms. "Yes, you are. You're jealous." I shook my head in disbelief. "What in the world would ever make you think that I'd do anything to betray you?"

"It ain't you I don't trust, darlin'. It's him. I've been watchin' him and he's been watchin' you."

"Oh please! I'm not even his type!"

"Oh yeah? Well let me tell you somethin', sweetheart. Jean was his type and she was my type too. Do the fuckin' math."

I stared at him, gaping. He really thought that Scott and I had been sneaking around behind his back. Cold rage filled me and I slapped him. "Fuck you, Logan. He and I have just come to a sort of mutual understanding. I know who my mate is and he's not the one. You do the fucking math."

I stalked out of the mansion, breaking into a run as soon as I was outside. I made my way to what I had begun to think of as "my" tree and climbed to the top. I lit a cigarette with shaky hands and then burst into tears. I sat up there for a long time, alternately cursing and crying, when a distinctive "bamf" sound beneath me startled me, followed by the odor of brimstone, and I almost fell out of the tree.

"Vhat is the matter, mein freund?" Kurt asked, looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"Men." I replied shortly.

"All of us or just two who are, shall ve say, acting like little boys?"

I couldn't help but smile. "The little boys. Gods above, Kurt! Doesn't Logan know I'd rather die than do anything to hurt him?"

"I am sure he does. But he is not thinking right now. He is letting his eyes fool him. And he is thinking of vhat almost happened vith him and Miss Grey, even though she loved Scott very much."

"But it's different with me and Logan. He should know that." I shifted on my branch to better look at Kurt. "We have this animal inside us and it knows things the human parts of us don't. I belong to Logan, for life. Even when we were apart, I knew that." I lowered my eyes as new tears started to fall. "I thought he knew it, too, but I guess I was wrong."

"No, you are not wrong. Logan is afraid to lose you and it makes him do crazy things." He reached up and took my hand. "He loves you, you know. He vould rather die than hurt you, but he is not thinking in that vay right now."

I nodded, but didn't say anything else. I didn't know what to say. Kurt seemed to understand and didn't say anything else either, he just sat there with me until my tears stopped again. A few moments later, I heard the Professor's voice in my head.

'Angela, please come back inside.' He said. 'You're late to teach your class today.'

Ah crap. 'All right, Professor.' I thought back. 'I'll be right in.'

Kurt smiled at me. "I heard. Do you vant a lift down? It vill be quicker." I nodded and he got on the branch behind me, wrapped his arms and his tail around my shoulders and teleported us to the ground. I stood still for a moment, recovering from the shock of it.

"Ugh. That was…disorienting."

"It alvays is the first time." He said. "It gets better."

I smiled and hugged him. "Thanks, Kurt. For everything."

"Bitte schoen." He bamfed away and I made my way slowly to the mansion.

I was surprised to find that it was already almost two o'clock, which meant I only had a few minutes to change into something more appropriate for teaching kids how to fight. I ran to my room and changed into one of the ubiquitous Xavier school sweatsuits that seem to sprout from every closet and made it to the Danger Room only about five minutes late. Logan was already there, still looking pissed.

"Sorry I'm late. Girly trouble." I said, which got a groan from the boys and understanding nods from the girls. The class was small, consisting of Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Jubilee, Piotr Rasputin and another boy named Kyle Gibney. For lack of a better term, they were our "guinea pigs", since they were the first class we'd had. Since this was the first session, we were supposed to be teaching them some basic defense moves. However, it soon became obvious that Logan was in a real fighting mood.

It all started out ok. We paired the students off and put them through a basic warm-up before getting into a basic throw. It's a simple one that doesn't require much strength on the part of the defender, since it's based on using your enemies' momentum against him. Since we weren't doing any real combat scenarios, we had the Danger Room configured as a gym, with padding on the walls and floor. It didn't take long for them to get the first move down well enough for us to move on to some more complicated throws and even some blocks. However, since it was Logan and I demonstrating everything to begin with, there finally came a point where his feral side got tired of being thrown around like a sack of potatoes.

We were showing them how to block a punch, then turn it into a throw to get your opponent at a disadvantage. We executed the move perfectly, but instead of just standing up and explaining the physics behind it, he snapped to his feet and punched me hard enough to make me see stars. Had he hit anyone else like that, they would have been out of commission for a very long time. As it stood, my feral side didn't like that and I lashed out with clawed hands and slashed both cheeks open. "Logan! What is your problem?"

"I don't have one, darlin'." He said, but he was in the classic Wolverine fighting stance and that was just not good right now.

"Class dismissed!" I barked over my shoulder, dropping into my own stance and circling him. "You have five seconds to clear out!" They didn't need to be told twice and scattered. I leveled my gaze at my opponent. "All right, we're alone now. Let's dance."

He didn't need any more prompting than that. With a snarl, he lunged at me, popping his claws and swinging. I dove out of the way, coming up behind him with a slash to his back. As he turned, I kicked off my shoes and brought my leg up in a roundhouse kick, but he blocked it and knocked me off balance. I recovered quickly, thanks to my cat-like reflexes and swept my leg under his feet, knocking him down and springing back to my feet. He snapped back up and lunged for me again. I had anticipated that, however, so I spun out of the way and his face met my elbow and the cartilage in his nose shattered, spraying blood. This only fueled his rage and with a primal roar he lashed out with his claws again. I barely evaded him that time, but I managed to duck under his arm and come up with a solid uppercut to his jaw. His head snapped back and I used that split second to kick him solidly in the gut, doubling him over, before bringing my knee up into his partially healed nose, breaking it again. He went down on his back and I leaped on top of him, my claws at his throat.

"Logan! What the fuck is your problem?" I said, gripping his throat with just under enough pressure to break the skin.

"I can't believe you've been sneakin' around with that…that…Boy Scout!" He growled through clenched teeth. "I can't decide who I want to kill more, you or him!" He tried to buck me off, but I increased the pressure on his throat and he stopped moving.

"If you really wanted me dead, you could do it any time." I pointed out.

"I never said it would be quick, darlin'. You ripped my heart out; now I get to return the favor."

"You have got to be the biggest fucking idiot on the planet, you know that?" I said. "Stop and think! You saw some things that you misinterpreted. What do the rest of your senses tell you, huh? Have you smelled him on me? Do you hear my heart beat faster when he's around? Do I get all flushed and flustered? Gods above, Logan! What does your animal tell you?" I stared him down, waiting for an answer that wasn't forthcoming. Disgusted, I pushed off him and stood, taking a few steps back. I put my own claws away and spread my arms wide, palms out in a gesture of supplication. "Fine, Logan. You want it this way? Then come on, do it. Rip my heart out. At least I won't have to feel it breaking anymore." Fat tears slid down my cheeks as I looked down at him. "I love you, Logan. I've loved you since the first day we escaped from the base. I wanted you even longer. I would rather die than do anything, ANYTHING to hurt you. Since it seems like I have, then I deserve it. So come on, what are you waiting for? I won't even try to stop you." I closed my eyes and waited.

I heard him stand and the sound of his claws retracting slowly, but I didn't open my eyes. I could sense him standing very close to me, felt his breath in my hair and his heat on my skin. The tears continued to fall from behind my closed eyes, but I wasn't about to give in and open them. I don't know how long we stood there, but I finally sensed a movement and it was not what I expected. I had felt the depth of his rage and I knew it was the purest killing rage I'd felt in a very long time. So when he laid his hand gently on my cheek and wiped my tears with his thumb, I collapsed with relief. He caught me and we sank slowly to the floor, clinging tightly to one another. I buried my face in his neck and sobbed. He stroked my hair, making little shushing noises that most who know him would never believe him capable of.

"Logan, I'm sorry. I swear, nothing happened, not ever. It never would, I couldn't do that to you. I love you, I belong to you."

"Shh, darlin'. Don't cry." He said, his voice husky. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I was stupid and jealous and I didn't think." He pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. I was surprised to see tears of his own streaming down his face and I reached up in wonder to wipe them away. "I love you, I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Logan, you're crying." I said softly, stroking his cheek.

"I know. I almost killed you, darlin'. I almost did it on purpose this time." He looked away from me and I could sense that he felt ashamed. "I wanted it, I can't believe how much. But every time I closed my eyes, I kept seein' the two of you on the floor, laughin' and it made me so fuckin' angry every time I saw it. I felt like I couldn't breathe when I saw you there like that and I just…I just…oh God, Angela I almost killed you!"

"Shh, Logan. It's over now." I put my hand under his chin and forced him to look at me. "I know you'd never hurt me. Even if I asked you to, I know you wouldn't."

"How can you say that? How can you ever trust me again?"

"I won't lie to you, I really thought you were going to do it. It broke my heart to think I hurt you and I didn't care if you did kill me right then. But deep down inside, I know you'd never hurt me. I love you. I trust you with my life."

He wrapped his arms around me again and we just sat there holding each other close. Our tears stopped and we let the silence enfold us like a blanket, not wanting to spoil the moment. After a long while, he pulled away and looked at me close, bringing a hand gently to the bruise on my cheek where he'd punched me. "I'm sorry about all of this." He said. "Forgive me?"

"Already done, lover." I said with a smile. "I can't live without you, ya know?"

He smiled back. "I know the feelin'. But can you promise me somethin'?"

"Anything."

"Don't tell anyone I was cryin'. It's bad for my image." I stared at him in shock, then burst into hysterical laughter. "What's so funny?"

"You are, you big dope. I won't tell anyone, but I guarantee the girls would all think it's very sweet and very sexy."

"I can handle the second part. It's the first part I'm afraid of." He smiled at me again, then leaned in and kissed me soundly. "C'mon, let's get outta here before they think we finished each other off."

He helped me up from the floor and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I slipped mine around his waist and we walked out of there, a little battered inside and out, but feeling lighter than we had in a long time. Having survived this, I knew things could only go uphill from there. In retrospect, I should have known better, since trouble increases when we're together. And trouble was right around the corner.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN:** Uh oh, what am i planning? Wouldn't you like to know? At any rate, many thanks to my most excellent beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, without whom this story would make a lot less sense...Special thanks to DBK(tm) for his constant badgering for more...:) Super Special thanks to everyone who's reviewed...you should know by now how happy they make me and that there's even a happy dance that happens when i get one...:) So don't wait! Click on that little button and review already! Last, but not least, Extra Super thanks to all the readers...without you, i wouldn't have bothered posting chapter 2, much less made it this far! Happy reading!


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** It's around here somewhere...:)

Chapter 16.

(Logan)

_Could this mission be any more fucked up? It was supposed to be a simple sweep and clear, get everyone in this little outpost dead and get out, twenty minutes tops between you and Hellcat. Blow the thing to shit and get out of there. In all fairness, it's not like anyone knew that a war between drug gangs was going to go down at the same time, so it's not like you had any way of knowing this was going to happen tonight. Just try to get out in one piece._

_You hear a shot and you grunt as you take another bullet in the back. Hellcat's been lucky so far, the only gunshot she has right now is a minor flesh wound to her left arm. A few passed so close to your face you could feel the heat as they went by, hear them hissing in the air. You can't help but admire her, though. She heals so much slower than you, yet she has no fear about throwing herself in the line of danger. However, you still feel a great swell of pity for her, wondering if she has a death wish. You also remember the look she gave you before leaving for this mission, when Stryker said they were moving up your program. If you didn't know any better, you'd say it was pity._

_You hear a loud crashing and pause for a split second to look behind you. A couple of guys come out of nowhere and catch you off-balance enough to knock you to the ground. You feel something crack in your chest as a heavy pipe is brought down on your ribs and you let go a primal scream. But even as they beat you, you smirk; beating you will just make you angry. You pop your claws and spring to your feet, facing these new adversaries with a feral grin. As you're ripping the throat out of the last one, you hear Hellcat gasp "Wolverine!" and you turn to face her, then growl low in your throat at what you see. A very large, very ugly thug has her in an iron grip, a knife poised at her throat._

_"Let her go." You snarl, blood dripping from your claws and from a small wound on your forehead that was probably much larger a second ago._

_"Fuck you, freak." The thug says. "Come any closer and I'll gut her like a fish." She swallows hard and you know why; you hate getting gut stabbed, too._

_"You so much as twitch a muscle and it's your guts that'll spill, bub." You snarl._

_"Oh yeah?" A look of malicious delight comes over his face and you scowl at him even harder. With an almost imperceptible nod, you signal Hellcat and she reacts, throwing her elbow back in an attempt to knock the wind out of the thug, but he seemed to be expecting that and moves back, taking only a fraction of the blow. In the same movement, he spins her around, thrusts the knife into her gut and jerks it upwards. Her eyes widen in shock and he throws her to the ground where she falls on her side. You utter a strangled "no" and watch as her hands go to the wound and blood quickly covers them, surrounding her in an ever-widening puddle._

_"BASTARD!" You growl, crouched low like an animal on the prowl. You realize that's just what you are right now, an animal stalking his prey. You move faster than you ever thought you could, your hands a blur as you slash and jab your claws. "FUCKIN' BASTARD! You wanna know what it's like to die slow? I'll take you apart piece by piece motherfucker and make you watch."_

_Things aren't going well for the thug. He's bleeding from countless slashes, his own knife sticking out of his thigh. You rush forward and the thug falls. With another primal scream, you shove all six of your claws in the thug's stomach and rip them in opposite directions, eviscerating him. You throw your head back and scream your fury before dropping to your knees. You stay that way for a moment, calming yourself, then shake your head and stand. You look around and spot Hellcat lying a few feet away and rush to her side._

_Your claws slide away as you gently turn her over. You look in horror at the severity of the wound and then look into her eyes. You grab her gently by the chin and shake her head a little. "Hey 'Cat. C'mon, talk to me. Stay with me."_

_There's blood on her lips as she smiles at you. "Wolverine. You were great." She says weakly._

_"No, I wasn't. You're dyin'. I failed."_

_"No, you didn't. Or maybe we both did. We'll talk about it later, ok?"_

_You don't understand what she's talking about. If she's dying, how can you talk about it later? "No, 'Cat. I did, I failed. It should be me dyin', not you. It should be me."_

_"Wolverine, don't worry. I'll be back. I always come back. You'll see." She lifts a hand and places it gently on your cheek. For some reason, you take it and kiss the palm, then hold it to your cheek. Her eyes seem to unfocus and unexpected tears spring to your eyes. _

_"Hellcat, no. Don't go. Don't leave me here alone. Please, don't do this." You're not sure if she heard you or not, she seems to be fading so fast. She goes limp and her hand slides from your face. You gather her into your arms and hold her close until the last breath leaves her. No one should have to die alone._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If anyone knew exactly what went down with us that day in the Danger Room, they at least had the brains not to mention it. Everyone knew something happened, but only Angela and I had the entire picture. I'd be willing to bet that Chuck knew, but he's the very soul of discretion and as long as we didn't mention it, neither would he.

A weird side effect of the whole thing was between me and One-Eye. I don't know if it had anything to do with the conversations he'd had with Angela or if it was because I worked something out of me during the fight, but it seemed like we were almost getting along. We weren't friends, I don't know that we'll ever BE friends, but he didn't jump to disagree with everything I said just because I was saying it and I just didn't get as much satisfaction out of getting his goat like I used to. It doesn't mean I didn't try, it just wasn't as much fun as it used to be. The universe is a damn strange place.

Over the next few weeks, the kids made some real progress in the defense classes. The one who surprised me the most was Kitty. To look at her, you'd think she'd blow away in a slight breeze, but inside that tiny frame hid a tiger. I'd personally been worried about her the most because she's so small, but when she successfully threw Piotr five times in a row, I stopped. I think she worked harder because she felt she had something to prove. At any rate, she set the bar high for the rest of the class.

The other major accomplishment in those weeks was the design and installation of the new security system. We now had motion sensors around the entire perimeter, hooked into a camera array that sent real-time images to a new security room in the lower level. All of the secure areas down there now required both voice and retinal authorization, which wouldn't stop Mystique but would easily defeat anyone else trying to invade based on their old intelligence. All the windows were now made out of glass so bulletproof it would take better than a fifty caliber round to break them. Doors were now made of reinforced steel with a veneer over them to match the rest of the house. We had thermal sensors in every room and security cameras in all public areas. I suggested hiding some surface to air missile launchers in the rosebushes, but Xavier was not amused by the idea. Hey, I liked it.

By the time all that was done, summer vacation had started in earnest. Most of the kids stayed, having no other home to go to, and those who did have family still tended to come back early. Fortunately, we had enough older ones around to keep the security room manned around the clock. We had to choose them carefully, since Kitty and Jubilee tended to make electronics go to shit if they were around them too long. But between Bobby, Rogue and Piotr along with the adult staff, no one had to spend too many all-nighters keeping an eye on things. And Jubilee could fill in for half shifts, if we were stretched thin for any reason.

It was about three weeks into vacation when Angela brought up the underground railroad idea to Xavier. She and Buzz had kept in contact since her arrival and he'd already taken the initiative to put out some feelers among the hacker community to see if there was any interest. Even I was surprised by how much support the idea had, so any thoughts I'd had before about it being an impossible thing to pull off were put to rest. We expected there to be resistance from Scott at the very least and we weren't disappointed.

"I just don't like the idea of trusting a bunch of kids, much less kids who are also hackers, with this kind of task." He said after we pitched the idea. "Don't get me wrong, the idea is a sound one. I just don't feel comfortable trusting all the logistics to these people."

"Scott, someday you really are going to have to crawl out from under that rock and see that the world has changed a hell of a lot." Angela replied, clearly frustrated. "Buzz saved my ass. I don't think there's a computer he can't hack into. Hell, if hacking could be a mutation, he'd be the most powerful one of his kind. He can change school records, hospital records; he can get them new identities, the whole nine yards. Just think, we can utilize the skills of hackers all over the world to save mutants everywhere, get them erased from public record, make them essentially invisible."

"How do we know they won't collect all this information and sell it to some government?"

"Scott, I think you're missing the point." Xavier said mildly. "Hackers are not exactly the kind of people who want to be helpful to government agencies."

"But we already know they can be bought. Angela even told us she always paid Buzz for his help."

"I paid him because if he got caught in any of those systems, he'd need the money to get himself bailed out of jail and pay for legal stuff." She snapped. "Most hackers don't work for anyone but themselves. I just happened to be lucky enough to find one I could put on retainer."

"Even if we did decide to go along with this, where would we put them all? The mansion isn't THAT big." I could feel a growl building up in my chest. As agreeable as things had gotten in the past few weeks, One-Eye still had a habit of being resistant to anything that didn't fit into his idea of the perfect world. To say it was annoying was a major understatement.

"Scott, with the contacts that I have in other parts of the world, I'm sure it would be fairly simple to establish safe houses all over." Xavier replied sensibly. "Think of all the people we could help with this kind of talent at our disposal."

Scott threw his hands up. "You're going to do this whether I approve or not, so what's the difference?" He said with a sneer, then turned and stormed out of the office. We all sat there, staring at each other in confusion, then Angela stood and crossed to the door to follow him.

"Where you goin'?" I asked, not liking the thought of her going after him one bit.

"I'm going to go beat some sense into his head. It seems to be the only way to get a clue into most of the men around here." She replied with a hard stare. I stared back for a long moment, shocked that she'd said that. I watched as she left the room.

"Well, that could have gone better." Chuck said dryly.

"You're tellin' me. Think she's really gonna beat him?"

"It was the loudest thought in her mind."

"Good."

"Logan, I know that the two of you getting along is a new thing and it will be easy to fall back into familiar patterns. But you must understand that he's not being contrary for the sake of doing so. He has real concerns."

"But they're stupid, Chuck! Does Angela seem like the kinda woman who'd trust just anyone? She put our LIVES in that kids' hands and he came through for us. As far as I can tell, he's the best example of humanity I've met in a damn long time."

"You don't have to explain anything to me. I'm going ahead with this idea, no matter what Scott says."

I smiled. "Good call, Chuck. I'm sure he won't let you down." I stood up and made my way to the door. "Now I have to find them before one of them does something One-Eye will regret."

"Such as?"

"She might actually kill him and that'll piss you off. Or he might try somethin' on her, which will only get him killed. Either way, it's not lookin' too good for him right now." Xavier laughed and I left his office with that smile still on my face. I found her scent among the others and followed it downstairs and…yep, that's the Danger Room all right. Instead of entering the room itself, I made my way to the observation room that's situated above it. I looked through the glass, but she was alone in there, fighting a series of holographic opponents that all looked just like Scott. I laughed and made my way back down and into the room.

She'd just executed a beautiful roundhouse kick to one of the many Cyclops' heads before spinning to face her new opponent, which was really just me. I grabbed her fist as it came up. "I take it the beatin' didn't go very well." I said dryly.

"He has to be the stupidest man on the planet!" She said heatedly. "I swear, he could challenge you for the crown as the 'King of Stubbornness'."

"Hey now. No one challenges me for anythin'. I'm still 'King of the Cage' in parts of Canada."

She glared at me. "This is no time to be funny. I thought things were getting better between him and us, but damn it! It's like every word I've said was just purged from his memory and he's back to being Anal-Retentive Boy."

"Look, I've had to put up with his shit a lot longer than you. I'm surprised he ever relaxed enough around you to act like somethin' almost human."

"Once I stopped acting like I was going to tear his face off, he was actually kind of nice. Almost respectful, even." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I suppose maiming him is right out?"

"Pretty much."

"Can I wound him? Just a little?"

I smiled. "No, darlin'. If it was up to me, I'd hold him down for ya. But Chuck wouldn't like it."

"Crap." She sighed and shook the rest of the tension from her body. "Well, I'm all sweaty now. I'm gonna get a shower." She took a few steps toward the door, and then looked at me over her shoulder. "You know, I could use a hand scrubbing my back." She said with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Oh, far be it from me to say no to a lady in distress." I replied as I joined her. She took my hand and we made our way back to our room, just in time I might add.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A couple hours later, we were sitting in the lounge watching movies with some of the kids. One-Eye had been off somewhere pouting all day, which was fine with me. It was still hard for me to accept that he wasn't interested in Angela. I wished like hell that I could see his eyes so I would know for sure, but he gave off this vibe that his intentions were a little beyond "friendly". Maybe I was still jealous or something, but it sure seemed like he was trying to find a way to get around me and get into her life. It was pissing me off.

So, we were halfway through some action movie starring some Australian guy and a lot of explosions, which I think was the entire plot. Angela and I kept pointing out the flaws in the tactics the bad guys were using, much to the annoyance of the kids. She'd just explained in great detail why a rocket launcher wouldn't actually blow up an entire floor of a building when Scott walked in. I tensed immediately, just knowing he was gonna want to talk to Angela alone. I don't know why he never wanted to talk to her in front of me, which was another point in the "after my woman" column. Right on cue, he cleared his throat and asked to talk to her…alone. She rolled her eyes and then leaned over and gave me a quick kiss before leaving the room with him.

I turned back to the television, scowling. A few seconds later, I felt someone looking at me and met Rogue's eyes. "What?" I snapped.

"You know there's nothin' goin' on there, right?" She asked. I just grunted. "Angela wouldn't do that to you."

"Look kid, just don't worry about it, all right? I know she'd never do that."

"So why do ya always get so mad whenever he's around her? Can't they be just friends?"

"I'm sure she's capable of doin' that. It's him that worries me."

"Logan, that's just silly." Jubilee piped in. "She'd kick his ass from one end of the mansion to the other if he tried anything stupid. And then you'd kick it right back to where they started. He's not an idiot, you know."

"Sure coulda fooled me."

The girls rolled their eyes at me, muttering something about "stupid men" under their breath and went back to the movie. I tried to get back into it, but every minute they were gone just increased my irritation. After about twenty minutes, I went in search of them. I followed their scents out to the reflecting pool, but the only person there was Scott. "Where's Angela?" He just shrugged. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Logan." He said, sighing. "We didn't fight, I didn't touch her and there's nothing sneaky going on, ok?"

"Why so defensive, Cyke? Somethin' on your mind?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, just stood there looking at the sky. When he turned to face me, his expression was more unreadable than usual. "I don't get it, Logan. I thought I had everything under control, that I knew how things were going to play out in this whole mess. Then you came along and Liberty Island then Stryker…it was too much. Now Angela's here too and every time I turn around, she's telling me that it's a losing battle. We'll have to fight, really fight, just to have the same rights as people who aren't mutants. She's telling me there's a war in front of us and I don't want to hear it!"

I let out a low growl of frustration. I so did not want to have a heart-to-heart with this guy. "Look, just because you don't wanna hear it don't mean it ain't gonna happen. It's a bad world full of bad people and there's a lot more of them than us."

He chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, she said the same thing to me a few weeks ago."

"That's because my woman is wise. She's actually LIVED in that world for the past fifteen years. She wasn't movin' around to keep ahead of somethin' she couldn't see and she wasn't livin' in some mansion tryin' to fool herself into believin' that the human race would wake up one day and realize we ain't all bad. She knows what people are capable of and she's not gonna sugar-coat anythin' just to make people feel better. This is LIFE, Cyke. You better get used to it."

I turned to walk away, but he stopped me. "Logan, wait a minute." I turned back to him and didn't bother to keep the irritation off my face. "How do you do it? How do you get yourself ready to just…kill people?"

"You don't." I snapped. "You just do it."

"How do you live with it?" Why the hell was he getting all philosophical on me now?

"You just do." I said with a shrug and walked away, following Angela's scent. I found her by the stream, tossing pebbles into the flow. As I got closer, I could smell the salty tang of tears. Why was she crying? "Darlin'? You all right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." I walked up behind her and put my arms around her waist. She sighed and leaned into my chest. "I almost hated to burst his bubble."

"What happened?"

"At first, he just wanted to apologize. He does a lot of that lately. But then we got to talking about the situation for us out there in the real world and he just refused to believe it could be that bad."

"What changed his mind?"

"I told him about Emma." Oh shit. I didn't think she'd ever share that story with anyone else. We stood there for a moment, and then she turned and buried her face in my chest. I just stroked her hair and let her cry herself out. Finally, she sniffed and gave a little laugh. "I seem to do a lot of this when you're around." She said.

"It's ok, darlin'. At least it wasn't my fault this time." I took her hand and led her to the bank, where we sat down. "Why'd you tell him about her anyway?"

"He wants so much to believe in the inherent goodness of people. But I've seen too much, been around too long to believe that anymore. He needed to know what horror there really is out there and I gave it to him." She shivered even though it was fairly warm out. "I didn't expect it to hit me like this. I mean, I told you and I was fine. I think about her all the time and I don't break down."

"Hey, don't worry about it, ok? It's not your fault he's an idiot. And I'd bet that you were angry when you told him and that probably didn't help. I just hope he appreciates it, that you don't tell that story to just anybody."

"Fat chance on that. Are you absolutely certain I can't wound him?"

I laughed quietly. "Positive." She cursed softly, then lapsed into silence. We just sat there for a long time, listening to the water, the small sounds of animals in the woods behind us, the wind. It was so peaceful I never wanted it to end. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Angela started cursing again. "What's wrong?"

"Damn mosquitoes think that Hellcat makes for a fine feast." She grumbled, slapping at her arm. "Lets go in before they start evolving."

I stood up and held out my hand to help her up. We walked slowly back to the mansion, the lounge now dark. I shook my head at the mess the girls had left behind and made a mental note to assign them extra laps tomorrow before defense class. We picked up the popcorn bowls and stray candy wrappers and took them to the kitchen before making our way to our room. Before we could enter, One-Eye came out of his.

"Hey, Angela. Can you come here for a second?" He asked, looking uncomfortable. I sighed and she just glared up at me, and then walked over to him. Thanks to my wonderful hearing, I got every word.

"What you need?" She asked, running her hand through her hair.

"Same thing I always seem to do, an apology." He replied. "I don't know what it is about you that makes me say the wrong thing all the time, but I do." He shuffled his feet nervously. "I guess…as long as it was just Logan with the stories of how bad things really are, I could ignore it, tell myself he was just exaggerating since he doesn't remember most of his life. But now you're here and not only do you confirm it all, you remember it all."

"I'd give a kidney to forget, believe me." She said bitterly. "There's so much pain back there…I'm amazed I'm not crazier than I already am."

"Hey, you're not half as crazy as you'd like us to believe." He reached out and took her hand, and I scowled. "I know you said it was all a front, but I don't believe that. You're a strong woman, Angela."

"Yeah well, I should win an Oscar for this performance."

He smiled at her. "I'll see what I can do." He joked, then turned serious again. "But I do want to apologize to you. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's ok." She replied with a shrug. "I'll survive. It's what I do." He smiled at her again, then reached out and gave her a hug. My scowl deepened and a low growl rose in my throat. He finally released her and she waved to him before coming back down the hall. "Coming in?" She asked, her eyes twinkling.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." I said. She went into our room and I went to Scott's. I stood there for a moment before knocking. I didn't want to harm him (much), but I did want to make myself very clear.

"Logan." He said, his expression blank. "Need something?"

I took another deep breath. "Yeah, I do." I said, leaning against the doorframe. "I know you're startin' to heal, Cyke. I know you're comin' through the other side of all this with Jean. I see your eye wanderin' and I just wanna give you a piece of advice you once gave me."

"And what's that, Logan?"

I leaned in a bit and growled "Stay away from my girl."

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**AN:** Has it been three day already? I lost track of time...third shift does that to a person...:) Special thanks, as always, to my beta readers Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for their tireless devotion to keeping this story reading well...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for his amusing way of keeping me motivated...Super Special thanks to those who have reviewed...my happy dance is improving all the time...:) And last, but not least, Super Swanky thanks to everyone for reading...you may be interested to know that there are only four chapters to go...:) AND, i am already hard at work on a sequel...:)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** Just the usual...oh, and Angela belongs to me along with a few other people about to appear...keep your grubby mitts off them!

Chapter 17.

(Angela)

_You're lying on your back in the sand, the sound of the surf pounding in your ears, relaxing you. The full moon gazes back at you offering a serenity you've not felt in ages. Your mission was completed ahead of schedule, but the extraction team won't be here until tomorrow morning. So, you get this one night on the beach, warm winds and cool spray. You can almost believe you have a normal life at times like this._

_The sound of footsteps startles you for a moment, but you relax when you realize it's your partner. You've been training together for weeks now and he's come with you on the past five ops you've run. You're still getting used to his presence. He walks a little ahead of you and you can't help but notice that he's wearing only his fatigue pants. You sit up slowly as you admire his powerful back, the muscles rippling like the waves you can hear. He stares out across the water for moment, then sighs and turns to you._

_The front view is even better and you begin to wonder if you really can bounce a quarter off a really tight six-pack. You've never known anyone who had one until now. You don't mean to stare, but you can't help it. If you had to use one word to describe him, it would not be "berserker" or "psychopath" or even "killer". You're thinking to yourself "Gods, he's fucking perfection"._

_He walks over and sits next to you. You swallow and turn back to contemplating the waves and trying to regain your inner peace. However, you can't help but glance over at him surreptitiously. Yep, definitely perfect. After a few moments he clears his throat and turns to you._

_"Hellcat, why do you do this?"_

_"What, contemplate the ocean? It's relaxing." You reply._

_"No, not that. I get why you're doing that. I mean, the job, the killin'. Why do you do it?"_

_So, with a heavy heart, you tell him how they roped you in. You tell him how you spent more time in sensory dep and behavior mod your first six months than most people see in their whole lives. You tell him about the first time the telepaths came in and "softened" your mind so they could re-mold it into their image. And how every time it starts to break down, they take a little more of the real you with them._

_"…And now, I don't know. I only stay for the sake of my child. At least, that's what I keep telling myself." You say in conclusion._

_"But you're lyin' to yourself, aren't you?" He asks._

_You nod. "Yep, I sure am. I stay for her sake, I really do." You turn and look deep into his eyes. "But I keep killing because…I'm starting to really like it." You look away, suddenly ashamed._

_"Doesn't it bother you, though? That you don't know why they want these people taken out?" You give a tiny shrug and he continues. "No, really. I mean, I've done my share before this, don't get me wrong. But there was always a really good reason for it. I've never just murdered someone in cold blood before."_

_"After a while, it's all the same. But it's also a rush, you against them. Not knowing if you'll make it out alive. I don't know how else to explain it." You look back into his face. "It's like I'm only really alive when someone else is dying under my claws. Not because of power or anything like that. It's because I know that'll never happen to me and I envy them. I can't taste mortality, but I can sure dish it out."_

_"You ever want to get out?"_

_"Every goddamn day."_

_He nods and looks away. "Maybe we will someday."_

_"Maybe."_

_You pass the rest of the night in silence, but you've just been given some insight into the Wolverine. He's feral all right, and tough, mean and nasty. But he's also still human. You know it's only a matter of time before they strip his mind down to bare bones, but right now he's still just…whoever he is. He doesn't see the single tear slide down your cheek, but it's a tear shed for him. You just hope that when you're really ready to get away, he'll be enough of the same man to help you._

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We were two weeks away from the start of the new term and the older kids had gone so far in their training, we were putting them through some pretty intense Danger Room scenarios. They'd already been using their powers as part of the training for some time and had exceeded our expectations tenfold. We decided it was time to ask the Professor to make them official X-Men. Which is funny, because I still wasn't considered part of that team. Maybe the Professor didn't want to push me or something, I don't know. But it wouldn't be until much later that the invitation was forthcoming. I was perfectly content in my role as teacher and didn't worry about it too much.

When we met with the Professor, Scott, Storm and Kurt about this, Logan and I naturally expected resistance from Scott. He sat through the whole meeting clenching his jaw so hard it gave me a headache, but remarkably said nothing. Logan and I explained how well they'd done in every aspect of the training program. They still had things to learn from a tactical standpoint, but if someone were to invade the mansion at that moment, they'd be able to repel the enemy with no problems. The only resistance Scott gave was his insistence that they be put through a final exam of his choosing first. Realizing that we'd never get a yes from him without it, we agreed.

Oddly enough, the scenario he chose was the invasion of the mansion. I hadn't realized that he'd programmed that into the network, but it did make a kind of sense. It would be uncomfortable for the kids, since it was the event that represented a loss of security for them. Also, Logan wouldn't be running around taking out the soldiers he came across, which would give them more enemies to deal with. The only advantage they would have was intimate knowledge of the battlefield. We watched from the observation room as the kids filed in and took position near the door. The lights dimmed and the program started.

Let me say this right now: I love the Danger Room. I shudder to think what kind of person I'd be right now if Stryker had had anything like it for training purposes. Knowing him, he'd have used it to take out the mutants he had no use for, just to see what kind of creative ways he could kill them. I could imagine the look on Buzz's face if he could get a hold of this. Which then led me to think about the kinds of things he could program into this baby for us. I vowed to invite him to the mansion for the weekend if it was the last thing I did.

So, with that in mind, back to the exam. Scott had the fail safes set pretty high. There needed to be enough danger that they'd have to use their skills, but we didn't want them getting hurt too badly. I'm not sure how the interface worked, but the holographic enemies were programmed to take their powers into account and react accordingly. I made a mental note to run myself through this scenario with Logan later. I had an idea.

The kids handled the scenario well. Rogue was running around with gloves off, only using her power if she couldn't disable the soldiers physically. Colossus was throwing them around like rag dolls, completely armored up in case they started shooting. Jubilee was holding her own, mostly just fighting and only using her power on a few rare occasions. Bobby had simply iced the intruders' feet to the floor, froze their guns and walked up to them calmly to disarm and disable them. Kitty was impressive with both hand-to-hand and creative use of her ability. She liked to grab them, use her phasing ability to make them both intangible and left them half-stuck through walls, furniture and in one case a toilet. Then there was Kyle.

Kyle was a feral mutant, like me and Logan, except he had more in the lines of physical attributes. His eyes were pure black and his finger and toenails were more like claws than even my retractable ones. Logan says they're a lot like Sabretooth's, but having never met the man I can't say for sure. Kyle also had a healing factor that fell somewhere in between mine and Logan's and senses as heightened as Logan's if not a little better. He also had the same predatory instinct for hunting that we have. He ambushed them from around corners, from the tops of highboys and tore through them like nobody's business. We had a soft spot for him, for obvious reasons.

At any rate, Scott couldn't fault their performance in the exam, so he passed them with flying colors and invited them to the team with certain restrictions. No missions until they took the tactics and strategy classes. After that, no missions on school nights. And no matter what, they had to follow the team leader's instructions to the letter, even if they were told to run away. Personally, I didn't agree with the last one. Sometimes you have to disobey orders to achieve your objective. I just hoped they'd learned as much from us and added their own qualifiers to that restriction. But, for all intents and purposes, the X-Men now had another complete team.

During the next two weeks, I kept in close contact with Buzz and the Professor's foreign colleagues, setting up the mutant underground. It turns out that a couple of his hacker friends were also mutants (one in Belgium and another in New Zealand), so they were thrilled to lend a hand. They spread the word throughout their own underground community and just before the school term started, the mutant underground went "online". Between Charles with Cerebro and the hackers, they found ways to contact those who seemed to be at the most risk and got word to them about this new project, gave them addresses to safe houses near where they lived and passwords to get into them. We even had a few telepaths who made the rounds through runaway shelters in an attempt to find those unfortunate enough to be on the streets. A few weeks after the term started, the new kids started trickling in via the underground.

At first, everything was ok. The kids ranged in age from about nine (brought in by his own parents) to about seventeen (a runaway who'd been on the streets for six months and found out about the school from one of the telepaths at a shelter). Their gifts ranged from mild telepathy (the seventeen year old, a girl named Anissa Hallett) to a bona fide firestarter (a thirteen year old boy named Davey Bowman with flame red hair, go figure). They would continue to arrive at a steady trickle throughout the first part of the school year, but never so many that the mansion was stretched to the limits. The kids who were returning were thrilled with the new classes and some of the older ones volunteered to take shifts in the security center. Overall, things seemed to be going well.

Since the Beta team (as we dubbed Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, Jubilee, Piotr and Kyle) had already "graduated" the defense course, we assigned them to teaching the younger kids. They took turns with the task so that none of them ever had to teach more than once a week, which was good. It made us proud to see them flourish with their new responsibilities. It was also good for the younger kids, since they didn't have be taught by anyone as intimidating as Logan. The older kids were another story, but once they figured out that he wasn't going to gut them if they screwed up a move, they relaxed a bit. The standouts were obvious from the beginning, a boy named Julian Keller (a telekinetic), a very nice boy named Jamie Madrox (who could make copies of himself that could act independently of one another) and another boy named Jesse Aaronson (who could generate bioelectric fields that disrupted any electrical system, as well as scan and perceive electrical fields). The rest of them were good enough to hold their own, but these were the ones we planned on advancing to the team if their progress continued to impress.

Of course, we had plenty whose talents were better used elsewhere. We had a couple older kids come in who had an affinity for machinery not related to their mutations (one could manipulate water in any form, while the other could communicate with animals), so Scott snagged them up to assist him with the many different vehicles we had, from Logan's motorcycle to the X-jet itself. Quite a few were handy with computers, so we set them to keeping the network running as well as helping with teaching some of the younger kids the same. The more responsible ones were assigned shifts in security central. One girl came through whose mutation was the ability to make plants grow, so Storm snagged her up right away for help in the gardens. The rest were mostly too young to give extra duties to, but we were sure that would change in time.

We were about five weeks into the term when it came up. Logan and I had decided that the original (Alpha) team of X-Men needed more training, so we'd scheduled twice weekly Danger Room sessions with them along with Beta team. Sometimes we mixed the teams up, sometimes we ran them separately and sometimes they were all together as one big team. They made it through most of the scenarios with no problem. It wasn't until they asked us for what we thought would be the "worst case scenario" that the problems began.

I had thought about that myself back when Beta team was doing their exam for Scott. I had wondered what might have happened if those soldiers had been backed up by a couple of mutants built for killing. Mutants like me and Logan. So we altered the scenario to include us in it, except we'd be IN the Danger Room and it accepted us as part of the assault scenario. We did this because we knew that it was only a matter of time before whatever was left of Stryker's bunch would find someone else like us or (gods forbid) capture one or both of us and recondition us. We'd just run the combined team through the "Angela and Logan are evil" scenario and they'd failed miserably, again, so we were sitting down to see if we could figure out why.

"Ok you guys." I began, standing with my hands on the table and leaning forward. "Why did we beat you?" I looked at each of them in turn and no one had an answer. "Anyone? You have to have ideas here."

Rogue cleared her throat. "It's just…it's you guys! I couldn't hurt you guys!"

I sighed in frustration. It was the same old song and dance. "Rogue, all of you, that's the entire point of this exercise. I know Stryker had other feral mutants he was tracking. He kept his 'projects' apart, so I don't know how many. Could have been one, could have been a hundred for all I know."

"But they're not you guys!" She protested.

"So what? What if his remaining collaborators got their hand on us again and turned us back into the killers we were? The very first thing they'd do is send us back HERE. They'd do it knowing that you would all have trouble attacking us in earnest. You have to get over it!"

"Why?" Storm asked. "What are the chances of that happening in the first place?"

"As long as we never leave the mansion again? Zero." Logan said from where he was sitting with his feet propped up on the table. "But we all know that we'll eventually have to go somewhere. It could happen the next time I go to town for smokes. Or they could capture a bunch of kids like they did before, knowin' we'd come runnin'. Or any of a thousand different things could happen."

I nodded in agreement. "You have to remember that we are trained in one thing and we are very, very good at it. If something like that happened, neither one of us would hesitate to kill you all. Hell, I'd probably do it with a smile on my face."

"And you can guarantee that anythin' else they send in here will be just as well-trained as we are. You asked us to give you the nastiest scenario we could think of and we delivered. Now it's up to you to get through it alive."

They sat in silence for a while, mulling it over. I looked over at Logan, who just shrugged. He didn't know how to get through to them either. "Listen, we didn't want to do this, but I don't see a choice." I sighed. "We want to run this again tomorrow with the failsafes off. We want all of you to use your powers against us just like any other enemy. Rogue, that means no gloves and do NOT hesitate to touch either one of us."

"Angela! I can't do that!" She yelled, jumping to her feet. "You know what'll happen if I do!"

"Yes, I do. But we won't hold back on you guys anymore either. The best we can promise is that Logan won't stab you and I won't tear your throats out. But everything else is fair game."

They filed out of the room looking somber. It was a huge risk, I knew that, going full out against them. Once there were no safeties, there was a good chance that either Logan or I would give in to the animal and lose all sense of what we were doing. But I couldn't see any other way to bring it home to them that we could be the enemy someday, or someone just like us. It was ugly and it would be painful, but they'd finally learn. I sat down with a sigh and put my head in my hands.

"You look tired, darlin'. Why don't you get some sleep?" Logan asked, stroking my head.

"I can't." I replied, looking up at him with a tired smile. "I have to reprogram the scenario, go over the logs of this most recent disaster and see what they need to change and about a million other things."

"Yeah, I know. You're workin' yourself to death on this darlin'. What I don't get is why."

I shrugged. "I can't explain it. I just see all these new faces around here every day and it scares the shit out of me that something might happen to them. That someone will get in here and we won't be around to stop them." I clenched my fists. "I know that the chances of them getting their hands back on either one us are so small that we can pretty much rule them out. But I am certain there were others like us that I never saw. What if one of them is still active with them?" I shook my head. "No, we have to push them. I have to push them, even if it means they have to kill me. I'll be back, it doesn't matter."

"Just promise me you won't stay up til dawn?" He said, grasping my hands. "It gets lonely up there without you."

I smiled in genuine amusement. "Is the extreme horniness part of your mutation or is it just a man thing?"

He grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He stood up and kissed the top of my head. "I'll be waitin' for you."

I watched him leave the conference room then went back to the control room. I was going over the logs of that last session and trying to figure out what went wrong this time, but I was still coming up blank. It was just after ten when I started; the next time I looked at the clock it was after two. I cursed silently and pushed away from the console. It would just have to wait until morning. I walked down to the security office to check in before heading up to bed.

I poked my head in and saw Jubilee sitting there. "Hey Angela." She greeted. "How's it going?"

"Frustrating, as you know. I have to get that scenario perfected and you guys have to get over being afraid to hurt us."

She grimaced. "Yeah, I know. I guess it's because we know it's not real that we're not really trying."

"Like I said before, get over it." I looked over the monitors that kept track of all parts of the mansion. As I was looking at the one the was focused on the patio, something just looked off. I rubbed my eyes thinking 'I'm more tired than I thought' when the same thing happened again. I leaned in close to the screen, thinking, HOPING, it was a trick of the light, but I saw it again. It was a little thing, something anyone else would have missed. In fact, Jubilee had missed it. But I didn't. I watched closely as a leaf fell from a tree and came to rest near the edge of the patio, but less than a second later, it vanished. About half a minute later, it fell again.

"SHIT!" I yelled, scaring the wits out of Jubilee. I hit a button on the main console, which activated a silent alarm and locked every door in the house except those belonging to the staff.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Someone looped camera five! We have a serious problem!" I ran out of the control room and shot down the hall to the elevator. It seemed to take forever for it to reach the main floor, but I was running as soon as the door opened. I dashed up the stairs to the second floor to find Storm, Kurt and Scott standing in the hallway, bewildered looks on their faces.

"Vhat is it, Angela?" Kurt asked, clearly confused.

I quickly outlined what I saw on the camera as I took stock of the immediate area. It took less than a minute, but that was enough for me to worry. Logan wasn't out here yet. "Where's Logan?" I asked, suddenly frantic.

"I don't know." Storm replied. "Maybe he's already patrolling downstairs."

"No, I would have seen him." I turned and ran to our door, which was still closed. I tried the knob and it was unlocked. I felt every muscle in my body tense as I pushed the door open and entered in a crouch. What I saw made my stomach drop.

The room was in a shambles. Claw marks scored the front of the closet and the dresser was in pieces. The bedding was shredded and I saw a few small drops of blood on their remains. Logan was nowhere to be found. I suddenly felt detached from myself, as though I was just a passenger in my body. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears and my vision was obscured in a red haze. The animal was taking over and I welcomed it.

The lights suddenly came up and I blinked back the red. "Mein Gott! Vhat happened here?" I heard Kurt ask as though from a great distance. Scott and Storm followed him in and I heard her gasp in alarm.

"Security breach. Scramble Beta for lockdown. We need to do a sweep." I said. No one moved. "Now! Someone's got Logan!" They were out the door without further prompting. I went over to the bedding and touched it. It was still faintly warm from his body, so whoever had him had just grabbed him moments before I'd seen the looped image on the monitor downstairs. I still felt like two people; Angela Rex was in there, screaming in grief and begging for answers. But it was Hellcat who calmly went to the nightstand and got the communicator, placing it in her ear and walking out into the hallway. "Alpha team, check in."

I paused and listened as everyone confirmed they were on radio. I tapped the earpiece to change frequency. "Beta team, check in." Another pause as they confirmed their positions. "Alpha, I want Nightcrawler to check the interior with Rogue and Shadowcat. Cyclops, Storm, you'll take the front of the grounds. I want Wild Child with me out back. The rest of Beta, I want you inside, check every dorm room and get me a head count. Go!" I issued the orders with a calm I really didn't feel. My vision was going red again, but I willed it back and kicked off my shoes. Taking off at a run, I met Kyle at the back doors and we slipped into the night.

It was cool out, but there was no dew on the grass. I motioned to Kyle to check to the left, while I took the right. This meant that I would have to check the woods, but I wanted it that way. It was the likeliest way someone would have gotten off the grounds without being detected. I ran silently down the path, my ears stretched to the limit for anything that was amiss. My eyes took in a thousand details with every glance. Broken branches, bruised wildflowers, a fox hiding in the underbrush. With my enhanced vision, the night was an open book to me; nothing was hidden. The trail of broken foliage led back to what I thought of as "my" tree.

I scrambled straight up the trunk to the topmost branches and started scanning my surroundings. This was the tallest tree on the grounds and I had an unobstructed view of everything. I could make out Kyle doing his search, slight movement behind darkened windows in the dorms, leaves skittering along the patio, harbingers of a dying season. I shifted my gaze away from the school just in time to see a dark colored van speeding down Greymalkin Lane. That had to be it. Fuck, they had him.

"Hellcat to Alpha, one vehicle leaving the scene." I spat into the communicator. "Dark colored van. Ready for pursuit. Meet me in the garage." I climbed swiftly back down the tree and ran full out back to the mansion. As I ran, I sent the strongest thought I could in the general direction of Xavier, hoping he'd pick up on it. 'Professor, we'll probably need Cerebro on this.'

'Already on my way. Be careful.'

'Only if I have to be. When I get my hands on these assholes, they're dead.'

'Hellcat…'

'No, they are. They just don't know it yet.'

I made it to the garage and the others were already there. However, none of them except for Rogue were preparing for pursuit. I stalked over to Cyclops.

"I thought I said to be ready for pursuit. Why are the doors closed? No car running?"

"We have another problem." He said "Anissa is also missing."

"How? We were on lockdown."

"It appears that she's the one who tampered with our security system. We let her on security rotation because she's so good with the computers. I think she was a plant."

"How the hell did a plant get past the Professor?"

"I don't know, but until we know more, I feel that pursuit is not the best option."

That was it. I'd had enough. Without even thinking I hauled off and slapped him as hard as I could. "I don't give a fuck what you think. I'm going after him. The rest of you can stay or go, I don't give a shit, but they're not getting him. Not on my watch."

I rushed over to the motorcycle I'd seen Logan riding and straddled it. I vaguely heard Scott protest, but he was drowned out by the engine turning over. As I was getting it turned towards the door, I heard another protest and felt someone hop on behind me. I didn't have to turn my head to know it was Rogue. "Thanks for coming."

"I have to. I love him too." She said simply. I smiled and gunned the engine. Someone must have figured I'd crash through the door if I had to and wisely opened it. We shot out into the darkness.

The van was now at least four minutes ahead of us, but I was hoping to shorten that distance by breaking land speed records if I had to. Rogue was a good passenger, she didn't cling too tight and she moved with the bike instead of fighting it. I absently noted that this was probably because she'd absorbed Logan in the past and mentally thanked that fact. Of course, I couldn't go as fast through here as I wanted to because the road was full of blind curves. After an eternity, we finally came to where it ended at an intersection and I rolled to a stop.

"Why are we stopping? We have to catch them!" Rogue protested.

I put up a hand to quiet her and closed my eyes. I reached down, tapping into my feral side to let my instincts guide me. I also stretched my hearing and thought I could hear a single vehicle to the left. I took it and jammed the throttle. At least the road here was straight, even though it had some pretty good dips in it and I'm sure we caught some wicked air. Unfortunately, I was in no position to enjoy it. I kept part of my mind concentrating on that primal connection and followed wherever it led me. Ten minutes later we came to where the road dead-ended in a field just in time to see a chopper taking off in a vaguely northwestern direction. I screamed in pain and frustration and heard Rogue utter a strangled "no" behind me. Numbing cold fell over me like a shroud as I watched its ascent.

Rogue hopped off the bike. "God damn it! If that asshole Cyclops hadn't waited, we could have caught them!"

"I know. Fuck. I think I will kill him. It'll make me feel better." I replied, a lump forming in my throat.

"Can I help?"

"Sure."

I switched off the bike and parked it. The van was there, abandoned and I carefully climbed inside. As I expected, there was precious little in there for clues; A smear of blood on one of the inner panels, a couple long blond hairs (probably Anissa's), a spent tranquilizer dart and three evenly spaced slits in the floor of the van. He'd awakened just before we got there and we were still too late to save him. I scooped up the spent dart and gestured to Rogue and we got back on the bike and returned to the house.

I didn't even wait. As soon as the bike was parked, I was off and striding purposefully through the halls to the Professor's office. I don't know how I knew they'd all be there and not the security office, but I did. I jerked the door open, stalked over to Scott and this time I punched him in the jaw and I did not hold back. He flew back a couple feet and landed on the floor, stunned. "IDIOT!" I screamed. "Your pussyfooting around cost us valuable time. Had we been there just twenty seconds and I do mean TWENTY FUCKING SECONDS earlier, they'd have never gotten away!"

"Angela, please, calm down." Xavier said coolly.

"NO, I will not calm down! Don't you see? Can't you figure out what's happened? That bitch Anissa was sent to infiltrate this place to extract him! An op like this can take months to plan! The only reason they didn't get me too was because I wasn't there! I wasn't fucking there!" Angry tears started to leak from my eyes and I was sliding my claws in and out with frustration.

"Professor, Angela's right." Rogue added. "From what we could see in the van, he woke up and hurt someone right before we got there."

Scott stood up, scowling. "How do you know?"

I reached into my pocket and tossed the dart at him. "THAT'S how I know. They wouldn't have had to do that if he wasn't awake."

"Did you find any of those in your room?"

"I didn't look that hard, I was too concerned with saving someone's life!"

Scott snorted. "Logan can't die."

"YES HE CAN!" Everyone stopped and stared at me. "Logan's hard to kill, not impossible to kill. I know, because they would never have sent him out in the field without knowing his limitations. It's takes a lot and it's not pretty, but with enough effort, they can kill him. Maybe they just wanted him back to punish him for leaving, I don't know. Maybe they'll toss him in a vat of acid until there IS no Logan to heal. Or strap a nuclear bomb to his chest and have him waltz back in here so he can destroy everything he holds dear. But they can kill him. And if they can't turn him back, they will."

Storm's eyes widened in horror. "My God, Angela."

I nodded. "You wanted worst case scenario. This is it."

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**AN:** Oh look, a cliffie:) We're in the home stretch now, so bear with me...if everything goes right, I'll have the sequel finished and ready to post by the time I post the last chapter to this story...Special thanks to my beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for their tireless devotion to my cause...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for his continuing efforts to keep me on track...Super Special thanks to those who reviewed, you not only make this all worth it, but the happy dance is a good time too! And, as always, Super Special Swanky thanks to the readers for sticking with me...now, if all of you who read would review, imagine the happy dancing that would ensue! So don't wait, just do it:)


	18. Interlude and Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** Buzz, Angela and certain villainous types are all mine...everything else has been disclaimed previously.

**AN Take One:** I'm a day early on my update, due to popular demand (or at least the demands of a certain reviewer who shall remain nameless...ready the reviews and you'll know who i mean!) But we're supposed to have thunderstorms for the next few days and i'm sneaking this in as fast as i can.

Interlude: Logan

_It was dark where he was. Dark and cold and empty. What is this place? He wonders. Why do I feel so terrible? He tries to reach out and wrap his arms around Angela, but he can't move his arms. Wait, he can't move anything! Sudden panic grips his chest as a smoldering rage begins to burn in his heart. Ok, I have to take stock. What do I remember?_

_He'd laugh bitterly at himself at the irony of such a statement, but he doesn't have time. Ok, I was sleeping, waiting for Angela to come back from the Danger Room. The door opened and…someone came in, but I can't see their face. They smell familiar, like someone I should know but I can't remember who. Scent triggers memory, remember that scent, it's important. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, sleeping. I hear a sound like a sudden puff of air, something stings my shoulder. What the fuck, someone darted me! I got up, popped my claws, I think there was a fight. Didn't anyone hear the fight? Hold on, I remember, I felt dizzy. Something cold and burning in my veins, in my head. Yeah, they knocked me out. That must have been some cocktail. How long have I been out?_

_He strains his ears, but he can't hear anything. This is familiar too. Sensory deprivation, one of their favorite punishments. His panic grows, his mind races. Wait, how'd they get past the security? How'd they get me out of there without someone knowing? Where did they take me? How long have I been here? He checks his internal body clock, something he can do and decides that it couldn't have been more than three or four hours at the most. They must have thrown me in here as soon as we got here. He inhales deeply, the one sense they can't deprive him of is scent. All humans, one mutant, at least four men and two women…and the familiar scent. I have to remember the scent, scent triggers memory._

_A slight rustling outside the door alerts him to a presence. He closes his eyes and slows his breathing so they will think he's still unconscious. It works like a charm. He listens carefully and lets the outside come in._

"Damn Hallett, what'd you give him?" A man said.

"Some fucking cocktail the big brains dreamed up." She replied_. Hallett? Anissa, from the school? What's that kid doing here?_ "You forget that I've been here longer than anyone. I remember when they brought this guy in."

"It's a shame we didn't know about Hellcat being there when this whole thing went into motion." A different man, his accent sounds like cultured Southern.

"Don't worry, she'll come to us." Anissa replies.

"You sure about that?" The second woman, Midwestern accent.

"Oh yeah. For some stupid reason, she's in love with this guy. She'll move heaven and earth to get to him, make no mistakes."

"Think she'll come alone?" The first man again.

"She might bring someone to fly that fancy jet of theirs, but I can't see her bringing anyone else. That Summers guy hates Wolverine with a passion. Xavier would never leave the precious children alone, so he'll stay behind. I'm guessing she'll bring Storm."

"Ororo Munroe, the African woman?" Another man, his voice a little clipped. British maybe?

"Anyone else? Any students?" The fourth man, his voice a deep bass rumble.

"No, I doubt it. The only person she trusts to back her up is right here. And by the time we're done with him, she won't even trust him."

"All right then. Good work Hallett."

_They leave him alone and he opens his eyes. Was I just the bait all along? Did I just lead us both to our doom? His panic is still rising, but so is the rage. He tries to move again and realizes he's not paralyzed, he's restrained. But he also knows these people are not stupid and these cuffs are probably adamantium. Well, they have to let me up sooner or later. And when they do, gods help them._

_An hour later, more footsteps in the hallway. This time, he acts like he's still groggy, just coming out of it. Time to see what these people really know about him and he's primed and ready._

The door opened and three people wearing lab coats came in. Wolverine was lying on a table made of adamantium, restrained with cuffs of the same material around his ankles and wrists. His eyes rolled in his head, unfocused. They bustled about, not paying any attention to him. One of them brushes his hand with theirs and they flinch, like they just touched something nasty. Finally, one leans over and checks his eyes.

"Yeah, he's awake now." She says. "Send them in."

"Wha? Send…in…" He mutters, as though still groggy.

The door opens again and two people walk in. By scent, he identifies one of them as Hallett, the other as the man with the deep bass voice. They stand over him and the look in the man's eyes indicates he thinks of Wolverine as less than an insect on his shoe. He's also wearing a military uniform, American, and by the stars on his collar, a general.

"Wolverine." He rumbles, sneering. "You have caused us a great deal of trouble. Thanks to you and those…people…we've lost our main base of operations. Why did you ever go back there? Did you think we wouldn't notice you? Did you think you could stop us?"

"Who are you?" Wolverine asks, bewildered.

"You don't remember me? I'm shocked. I'm General Franklin. I'm the reason you exist."

"What do you mean?

Franklin looks over at Hallett, a bemused expression on his face. "He really can't remember dick, can he?"

"No sir, he can't." She replied with a smirk. "I think the implant has been doing its job quite well."

"Implant?" Wolverine asks, then remembers that conversation so long ago in Xavier's office. "You put something in my head to fuck with my memory?"

"Yes, we did." Franklin replies. "We didn't have a foolproof method of mind control at the time. But we could make it so that you only remembered what we wanted you to remember. I'm not sure exactly how it works; it's something the big brains cooked up. We were amazed that you managed to get away and with Hellcat's help."

"She didn't help me. She came along for the ride. You killed her kid, what the fuck did you expect her to do?"

Franklin frowns. "So, that's what made her leave. We always wondered about that. I wonder how she found out?" He sniffed. "No matter. By our estimation, she'll be tracking us down right now. It's what we made her to do. I just wish we'd known she was there sooner, we could have grabbed you both with a minimum of bloodshed."

"I don't know how you define minimum, bub, but she's gonna tear through this place and she won't leave until we're swimming in blood."

"We'll see about that." He gives Wolverine a cocky half-smile, then gestures to the lab coats. "Get him out of here, put him in the tank."

The tank. That can only mean one thing, the tank where they cut him open and made him the man he is today. For a brief moment, all he feels is panic. Then, he remembers that help is on the way and rage once again takes control. They think she'll only bring Storm, but he knows better. She'll bring at least Rogue, which means they'll have to fight two Hellcats. And there's no goddamn way they're ready for that.

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Chapter 18.

(Angela)

Sleep was out of the question, no doubts about that. I still had enough adrenaline in my system to choke an elephant, but what was keeping me going was fear. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of the motivation that Logan and I used back in the bad old days was fear. Not fear of dying or anything like that, obviously, but fear of the pain we'd have to endure if we failed. Take a good look into his eyes one day and if you can get past the suspicion and the anger, you'll see fear. But don't tell him I said that.

We'd been arguing all night. We lifted the alert soon after Rogue and I returned to the mansion, once we'd determined that Anissa had circumvented our system with a cleverly hidden set of commands that disabled the parts of the system she needed for a brief period, just long enough to get someone in to help her get him out of there. She must have been some kind of computer genius to rival Buzz. I made the decision to get him out here to work his mojo on our system to prevent that from happening again, fuck whatever anyone else had to say about it. The Professor felt personally responsible, because he was the one who screened Anissa in the first place. She'd come to us through the underground, so it was a standard procedure. Not that most people would know about it, since he did so while doing their entry interviews before settling them in to the school. I blamed myself for not being there. I was convinced that if I had been, they'd never have taken both of us. And since an infiltration op like this would have taken months of careful planning to allow for every contingency, I'm relatively certain they didn't know I was there when they conceived it. Rogue blamed Scott, who really was the one that was most responsible for the whole mess. Had he not hesitated, they'd never have gotten as far as the chopper. Had he come with us, he could have shot it out of the sky, Storm could have made the weather too dangerous to fly in, hell Bobby could have frozen the damn thing and we could have chipped Logan out. I changed my mind, it was definitely Scott's fault.

Which brings me back to the meeting in the office. Scott was arguing that we couldn't go after him because we didn't know where he was. Rogue had her gloves off (figuratively and literally) and was demanding we look anyway. The Professor had so far been unable to find Logan, which meant he was probably still unconscious wherever he was. Bobby was trying to keep Rogue from doing Scott in right there. Piotr, who is normally a very quiet guy, was sitting near the window, quiet. The rest of the team was in the dorms, calming the rest of the students. I was ready to hop back on the motorcycle and follow my instincts to find him. Except for maybe Scott, we all shared one thing in common; we felt helpless. And the only thing that's more dangerous than an angry Hellcat was a helpless one.

"Professor, if you can't find him with Cerebro then I don't see how we'd do any better any other way!" Scott was arguing.

"That doesn't matter!" Rogue shouted back. "We have to try! If it was anyone else in this school, you'd be out there right now!"

"Rogue, please. We have to talk about this calmly." Said the Professor. I knew he was about a half inch from just knocking her out telepathically, but he didn't like to do that.

"How can I be calm?" She shot back. "How can any of you be calm? Whoever Stryker was working with has Logan! Do you know what they could be doing to him right now?"

It was then that the shock finally settled in on me. Suddenly, all the noise in the room was deafening, all I could hear was a kind of rushing in my head. I turned to the Professor. "Oh gods, he's gone." And I pitched headfirst into the floor.

I woke up a couple hours later in the infirmary, Storm sitting nearby. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I'd ever fainted in my life. It's terribly disorienting. "Ugh, what happened?"

"You fainted." She said. "Shock. It happens to everyone."

"Not to me."

"First time for everything."

I smiled weakly, then it all came rushing back and my face fell. Sudden tears sprang into my eyes and my shoulders started shaking. Storm came over and put her arms around me, soothing me like a scared child. It's just how I felt, really. Logan was gone and I didn't know if he'd be the same when I saw him again. I didn't know what I'd have to do. Would I be able to get him back? Or would I have to kill him? I didn't know if I could, emotionally or literally.

After a few minutes, my infiltrator mind kicked in. I dried my tears and looked up. "Storm, I need a phone. A secure line to the outside that I can use and no one will interrupt me. I need a notebook and pencils, a map of North America and a laptop. Can you get them for me?"

"Of course I can. Should I get anyone down here?"

I thought for a moment. "Yes, I need Rogue, Kitty and that kid Jesse who calls himself Bedlam. Especially Rogue. She'd never forgive me if I left her out of this. Have them meet me in the war room." I looked up at her. "You too, when you can."

I always thought that was an ironic name for a room that, until now, had precious little to do with war. But the war room outdates even Logan, which always struck me as funny. I got up off the bed, got dressed again, ran my fingers through my hair and rushed down there on legs that were still shaky with adrenaline and fear. Storm was kind enough to have all the things I asked for waiting for me when I arrived. Even though it was still very early, I put a call in to Buzz.

"This better be good." He said. I was surprised he picked up.

"Buzz, it's Angela."

"Ang? You know better than to call me this early."

"I know. It's an emergency."

"Like Detroit?"

"Bigger. Can you get away for a few days?"

"Sure, I can. What's up?"

"No, not over the phone. I'll fill you in when you get here."

"You got it."

He hung up and I booted up the laptop. I called up a three-dimensional map of the area where the chopper had taken off and typed in the trajectory it had been headed when it left. It hadn't been a long-range model, so they either had him very close by (unlikely), or they'd taken him somewhere close and switched to a longer range vehicle, probably another chopper. That was the bad news, since they could have taken him anywhere in this part of North America. And there's a lot of empty out there. I started marking the regular map with likely places they could be, starting fifty miles out.

Storm was the first to join me. "Angela, what are you doing?"

"Looking for Logan."

"The Professor is still trying with Cerebro, but there's been no luck."

"I don't need Cerebro. I just need a little help from my friends." I looked up at her. "Will you help me?"

"What do you need?"

I told her I needed her to get Buzz from Michigan and get him back here ASAP, which meant using the jet. I gave her his address and phone number so she could call him and tell him where to meet her. "And Storm, whatever happens, do not let Scott stop you. If they turn him back, he'll be unstoppable."

"All right, I understand. I'll be back in a little while."

As she left, the others came in. Rogue understood immediately what was going on and I set her to work marking the map on my instructions. Bedlam was more confused.

"Miss Rex, why are we here?" He asked. I could tell they'd gotten him out of bed, which I'm sure made the confusion worse.

"I'm sure you know by now that we had an incident last night." I explained and he nodded. "I believe that people who may have worked with William Stryker infiltrated the school and extracted Wolverine. We're going to find them."

"What? How? Why us?"

"The 'how' is simple. Storm's picking up a friend of mine who can hack any computer. And I want you guys there for several reasons. Rogue is an obvious choice. I don't want to find myself on the wrong side of her temper if I don't take her with me. Bedlam, I want you because of your wonderful way with electrical systems. Wherever we go, we'll have to disable security systems, computers, door controls, you name it. And I might need you to disable Logan. I don't know what kind of state he'll be in, so I need to plan for the worst. Kitty, you're my ninja. I want you to stay phased the whole time we're in there. Not only does it make you bulletproof, but Logan-proof too. And you'll be sneaking ahead and doing recon for me, letting me know what we're up against."

"Bulletproof?" Her eyes were incredulous. "You think they'll shoot?"

I looked up and she took a step back, her eyes widening. "I'm counting on it." I know what she saw when I looked at her. This is what I was made for, this is what I do best. I get into any facility and kill people. She was seeing the real Hellcat, the one they made me into. Right now, I couldn't care less. I needed that edge to get through this. Of course, Cyclops chose that moment to try and stop me.

"Angela, you're not doing this." He snapped.

"Yes, I am." I replied, still looking at the computer and typing commands. "Who's gonna stop me, you? I doubt that."

"You had Storm take the jet to pick up your hacker friend. You have these kids here and you're planning on taking them into danger. Look, I know he's your lover, but they'll be expecting us to come right after him. We have to wait and see…"

"NO! We don't. Yeah, they're expecting the X-Men to show up. They are not expecting us."

"If they're expecting the X-Men, then yes they are expecting you."

I looked up slowly, rage building inside me. "What makes you think I'm an X-Man, huh? Did I get the decoder ring or a uniform? No, I didn't. I am not doing this for you or the Professor or even me. I'm doing it for Logan. If they really knew I was here, they'd have sent a full attack force like before. Nothing smaller would take us down. Individually, we're tough. Together, we're an army and they know that. So no, they're not expecting me. And they really won't be expecting two of me."

"Two of you? What's that mean?"

I smiled. "Why do you think Rogue is here?"

His eyes widened. "You're going to let her imprint you before you go in? Are you insane?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. But I'm only giving her enough for about an hour. I can shrug that off in a matter of moments. Now please leave. You're bugging me."

"You won't get away with this. You have to know this is suicide!"

"With all due respect, I've heard that before."

He stormed out and I turned back to the computer. As I continued to search, I realized that their trajectory would have taken them in the direction of the Hudson Bay area. Wallace had told me years ago they had a secondary base there. Could they have gone back again?

Storm returned with Buzz (who was suffering from some major gadget envy by this time, I'm sure) about an hour and a half later. As soon as he walked in, I ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, you are a sight for sore eyes!"

He hugged me back a little awkwardly. "Well, with everything that's going on, I figured what the hell?" He sat in front of the computer. "So, what are you looking for?"

I quickly outlined what had happened and what I thought was happening now. I gave him a few details about what had happened to me and Logan with the adamantium bonding process and conditioning they'd put us through. His eyes widened in horror, but he held it together. I also told him my suspicions about the Hudson Bay facility. He nodded and made notes before turning to the computer and doing his thing. If computer use is a mutation, then he's got it in spades. Given enough time, he could probably make a computer perform show tunes for him, complete with kick line. I waited nervously. Logan had already been gone for six hours by this time and every minute that passed was a minute closer to losing him forever.

Finally, the computer gave a beep and he leaned forward. He peered at the screen with a frown, typed in a couple commands and it beeped again. He repeated this process for the longest twenty minutes of my life before crying out "Aha!" We all jumped, but I recovered and leaned over his shoulder.

"Aha? Who says that, really?" I said, my main defense mechanism kicking in again. That's me, making jokes in the face of certain doom.

"I do." He replied, then pointed to the screen. "Ok, I had to call in some huge favors for this, but I think this is your guy." I squinted to see what he was pointing at. "Here's us." He pointed to a big black 'X' on the screen. "You said they left from here going northwest, right?" I nodded. "Well, they must have changed choppers at some point, because the only place on the North American continent that has any information on a Logan or a Wolverine is here." He pointed to a big red dot that all but covered a small island in the Hudson Bay. "You were right about that. It was supposedly decommissioned, but there's been unusual activity to and from the island for the past six months." He turned his chair around and beamed at me. "The best part of all? About four hours ago, a chopper came in from the southeast and landed there."

"That's it! Buzz, you're a genius. I owe you big time!" I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Name your price, anything you want, it's yours."

He looked around, thinking, then looked back to me. "Get me a job here and we'll call it even."

"Done." Said the Professor from behind me. We all turned to look as he eased his chair into the room. "You have done more to help my people in the past few months than I ever thought possible. And you have gone out of your way to help someone that I consider a valuable friend. I owe you a debt and if a job here is all you want, then it's yours."

I don't think anything could have made Buzz happier in that moment, but he stood and solemnly shook the Professor's hand. I smiled and patted him on the back, then turned back to my team. "Storm, I'll need you to fly the jet. We'll have to land nearby without actually landing on the island."

"She'll land in the water just fine." She replied. "I think this area would be best, we'll have the woods for cover." She indicated a small area near the southern part of the island.

"Good. Bedlam, as soon as we hit land, I want you to start finding things to scramble. Kitty, you'll scout ahead and alert us of any possible ambush they may have set up. Rogue, you're my secret weapon."

She grinned. "I just knew you were gonna say that."

"Well, I'm going to give you my powers. I'm not as strong as Logan and I don't heal nearly as fast, but my reflexes are quicker. As long as you don't take a really serious wound, you should be all right."

"And what if I do?"

"Then let me know and I'll let you suck me dry. We'll both come back tomorrow that way."

Storm looked concerned. "Are you sure? We're still not certain how her ability works."

"And how long was she Logan after Liberty Island?"

"A couple days…oh. Ok, never mind."

"Ok you guys, suit up. We're outta here."

Bedlam and Kitty dashed off to get uniforms. I didn't know if Rogue would get my claws and everything, her imprinting wasn't exactly a perfect science, but I told her to get ready to lose her boots if she did. As for me, I was going in just like I was: black cargo pants and a black tank top. No shoes, no weapons, no uniform. But before we left, I had one more part of the costume to put on. I took the elevator to the second floor where the room I shared with Logan was located. I opened the unbroken side of the closet and pulled down a small box, black lacquer. Still resting inside there were the four most important things I owned: a silver ring with a knot work pattern, a small stone cat, a faded photograph and a necklace, a simple metal tag, stamped with a numeric code and a single word, suspended from a metal ball chain. I took the necklace out and pulled the chain over my head. Hellcat was back.

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**AN Take Two:** Again, i mention weather here...everyone knows who i would normally thank and i apologize for not doing so today...but everyone should know they are appreciated, loved or otherwise have my eternal gratitude!


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** Back there somewhere...anything X-Men isn't mine (much as I wish Wolverine could be mine, darn it!)...anything not X-Men IS mine, so keep your grubby mitts off 'em:)

Chapter 19

(Angela)

I have to give credit where credit is due. Cyclops might not like Logan very much and he was certainly pissed at me, but even he had to admit that an evil Logan wasn't something he wanted coming after us. He might not have personally approved of what I was planning to do (go in to the base and kill a bunch of people), but it was better than the alternative (Logan let loose on an unsuspecting world to kill a bunch of people). Since he wasn't coming with us, he volunteered to stay by the radio in case we needed anything. But he also insisted we needed more muscle on the team and would not agree to anything unless Colossus went with us. Fine, I could handle that. At least he's bulletproof in the literal sense and could probably bench press the jet when he's in his metal form.

Buzz was going to be in the control room with Cyclops, maintaining contact with the base mainframe and feeding us whatever pertinent information he could. He also had some of his hacker pals on standby to crash the system if we needed it to cause confusion. That's the one bad thing about relying on computers for everything. If they went to shit, you were fucked, simple as that. I could hardly wait to see what Buzz could do for the Danger Room.

I was too keyed up to be freaked out about the flying. If I have to do it again, I'm going to make sure Storm is flying the jet. Thanks to her ability, she made sure there was no turbulence or anything approaching bad weather the whole trip. Still, I didn't like looking out the front and seeing all that nothing, so I sat in the very back, as far away from that window as I could get and still be in the airplane. The others sensed that I was not in the mood for company and wisely stayed away. This was perfect, as it gave me time to strip away everything that was "Angela" and bring "Hellcat" back out in full force. It wasn't that difficult to accomplish, since I still had my rage from a few hours ago to pull from. I closed my eyes and focused on that rage, focused on my mission objective and I was once again a passenger in my own body. When I opened my eyes again, I saw everything through that red haze that took over my vision when the bloodlust was in control. I backed it off enough to remind myself who my teammates were.

When we were within fifteen minutes of landing, I called Rogue to the back. I told her to take what she needed to have my abilities for about an hour. She'd been learning some control over her ability, so she was able to gauge how long to hold on to accomplish what she needed. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes right before she touched me. She didn't hold on for very long, less than a minute I'm sure, but it was probably the most intense experience I'd had since the last time I died in the tank at Alkali Lake. When she let go, I slumped in my seat and gave her a weak smile. She didn't get my claws (bummer), but she did sense that she felt stronger and had an almost uncontrollable urge to hit things. Good enough.

After what felt like an eternity, we came on final approach to the island, which didn't have any name that Buzz had been able to find. He did confirm that Logan was there, they had him under restraint (never good) and they were currently prepping him for a procedure. He was unable to tell me what the procedure was, but I didn't need a genius like Buzz to tell me that it couldn't be good. Storm set the jet down like a butterfly landing on a rose; it was that soft. Less than a minute later, we were on land.

Colossus immediately went metal and Kitty was phased. Rogue was enjoying the world with her new eyes and ears, although she was still pretty desperate to hit things. We gathered under a fir tree so big the branches swept the ground for our final plans.

"Ok, here's the situation." I began. "I'm not Cyclops. I'm not going to tell you to just knock people out. If you have to break something, break it. If they have a weapon, immediately assume the worst and take them out by any means necessary, understood?"

"What if Logan is already too far gone for us to help?" Storm asked. I looked at her intently. "We don't know what they've already done to him."

"You leave him to me. I know him better than anybody, I can disable him." I think, I added to myself.

"I don't know how comfortable I am with that." She stated plainly.

"Then stay here, I don't care. I'm going in and if anyone here can't handle the mayhem, stay here. But if I give you an order, you follow it without hesitation. Hesitation gets people killed and no one gets left behind. Not on my watch."

"You say that a lot." Bedlam said. "Why?"

"It's not important. Let's move."

In truth, I didn't want to tell him. It was an agreement that Logan and I had made a long time ago. If one of us were disabled, the other would stay and make sure we both got out. I think it's because we had that primal attraction, but never really acted on it. It was our way of telling the other that we cared, without having to say it.

We moved as quietly as we could through the trees, Kitty scouting ahead and reporting to us via our earpieces. We were within a quarter mile of the base perimeter before encountering our first hint of security in the form of a laser motion sensor. Bedlam made quick work of that and we continued. A little while later, we came upon an actual live sentry. These people were either stoned or stupid, but he didn't seem to be expecting me, or else he wasn't expecting me in his area. Either way, his neck made a very satisfying crack when it snapped.

We finally came to the perimeter fence and you could hear the electricity humming through it from ten feet away. Bedlam once again made quick work of that, allowing us to get close enough for Colossus to just rip a huge chunk of it out and toss it away. Damn, if that boy was five years older and Logan never existed, I swear I'd take him for a ride.

We were approaching the base at the back where security is typically lighter. It's obvious the military believes all the war movies that get released, because they always expect the assault to come from the front. Idiots. I'm surprised they ever had anyone smart enough to come up with a way to train a monkey how not to fling poop, much less a pair of super killers like Logan and me. The back entrance only had four soldiers guarding it, but I wanted them out of the way. None of us had a ranged power except Storm.

"Storm, can you take those guys out?" I whispered.

"Sure, just give me a moment." She replied, her eyes going all over white as she called upon her power to control the weather. The wind immediately picked up. The soldiers didn't think anything of it, why would they? This was Hudson Bay and the weather usually sucked. It wasn't until a forked bolt of lightning hit two of them that they realized something was amiss. The remaining two immediately jumped back and started looking around.

"Colossus, your move." I whispered. "When they start shooting, we'll move in." I said to the rest. He immediately strode forward and the soldiers ordered him to stop, which he obviously didn't do. After ordering him again to no avail, they opened fire. As soon as I heard the first gunshot, I started running with Rogue hot on my heels,the rest following behind us.

The guards looked like every other base guard I'd ever seen, from the regulation haircut to the spit shined boots. I swear, they only really have one guy and they keep cloning him. Knowing the people I know, it could be true. I slid my claws out and engaged the guard on the left. I swiped at his face with my left, which he dodged but that was my intention. My right hand came up and I grabbed him by the balls, lifting him off his feet. Grabbing him by the throat, I picked him up and tossed him about eight feet. He landed hard, but not hard enough to hurt him. I closed the distance and pounced on him before he had a chance to get up, slashing his face and throat with my claws. It'll definitely have to be a closed casket for him. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Rogue kick her guy in the knee, bringing him down and then kick him in the face. As soon as he was down, she kept kicking him in the face and ribs until he stopped moving. I did notice he was still breathing, but at least he wouldn't be a bother to us.

"Shadowcat, forward recon." I whispered into my earpiece.

"Roger." Kitty replied and phased through the door. "Ok, there's a hall here, about ten feet long and I can hear voices at the end."

"Roger that. Hold position." I looked at the door and saw that it needed one of those key cards. "Bedlam, can you fry the door so it'll still open?"

"Sure can." He said and came forward. A moment later, a few sparks flew out of the lock and the door slid back a few inches. We entered cautiously and rejoined Kitty. I filtered through the voices I could hear for more information.

"…can't believe we got him back…"

"So, is it true he's a fucking killing machi…"

"Should be about ready to get him in the tank…"

"…lab four, in the lower level. It's the only place that can contain him…" Excellent.

"Shadowcat, we need a way downstairs." I whispered.

"I'll see what I can do." She walked down the corridor, peeking around the corner before moving on. I'm sure she was walking through walls as much as anything, but she came back a few moments later. "Found some stairs, there's about twenty people between us and them."

"No problem, let's roll."

I had Kitty take point this time. She's kind of little and doesn't even look threatening in an X-suit, so I was hoping to use that to throw off the opposition. We followed behind her but hung back as she rounded the corner.

"Hey little girl, you get lost?" I heard some smarmy bastard say.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be downstairs in lab four."

I heard a gun cock. "Oh yeah, and why's that?"

I rushed around the corner. "Because you have something of mine and I want him back." I said as I launched myself at him. There were about ten people in this room, most of them armed. Colossus came around the corner and immediately went to the guys with the automatic weapons. Kitty simply walked through a guy and he fell twitching to the floor. Bedlam was doing much the same thing via touch to the guys he was engaging. Rogue beat them down. Not me. I was on that guy before he had time to put the slightest pressure on the trigger. I raked my claws down his scalp and used my feet to tear at his abdomen. As soon as I felt blood, I leapt over him and he turned to face me, again raising his gun. I lashed out with my right and raked my claws over his eyes. He fell to the ground screaming, out for the duration. I tore through at least three more in the same fashion and only stopped when I realized all the enemies were down or dead.

We then followed Kitty down another hallway, which let out into an antechamber. I didn't even try to be stealthy at this point, I'm sure the base had a silent alarm going and the troops would be here any second, so there was no time to waste. I ran full tilt into the room, assessing it quickly for the person most likely to be important. There was a blond woman in a lab coat with her back to me, so I launched myself at her, grabbing her around the neck and throwing her to the ground. It was Anissa.

"You fucking whore!" I screamed, jamming a knee into her gut. "I'm gonna kill you twice!"

"You and what army?" She asked, too smug for her own good.

"THAT army." I said and pointed, just as Colossus came in, grabbed a guy and threw him down the hallway. Her eyes widened. "You thought I'd only come with one or two people? You forget, this is what I do and I know what you fucks are capable of." I backhanded her, cracking her lip, then grabbed her by the throat and hauled her to her feet. "I'm gonna so love to hear you scream."

She at least had the intelligence to finally be scared as she looked around and saw that I'd come with a full team. She backed up a step but I reached out and grabbed her right arm, twisting it until I heard something crack. She let out a whimper, but that wasn't good enough for me. I released her arm and started slashing with my claws, opening huge gashes all over her torso. I don't know what this bitch was made of, but she still didn't scream. Finally, I slashed out with both hands on her face, ripping out one of her eyes. At last there was screaming and it was music to my ears. She fell to her knees and tried to scuttle away, but I kicked her in the face and she went down.

I grabbed her by her shirtfront and pulled her face close to mine. "If I had more time, I'd eviscerate you and play with your guts." I hissed. "This is too good for you, but I don't have time for more." She whimpered again, her remaining eye pleading with me, but I had no pity for this bitch. I slashed my claws across her throat and dropped her on the floor, spitting on her soon-to-be corpse. I turned around and saw that the rest of the people in this room were incapacitated in one way or another, but I could hear boots running our way. "Storm, Colossus, Bedlam, you stay here and guard the rear. Rogue, Kitty, with me." I turned and ran down the steps.

Whoever was in charge here obviously didn't think we'd make it this far. Then again, I'm sure they didn't expect me to have this much backup. I had a few bruises and a pretty nasty cut on my scalp that I didn't remember getting, but otherwise I was all right. Kitty was completely unscathed, but that was why I wanted her here. Rogue had a black eye and a split lip, but seemed to be in good shape otherwise. We came to the bottom of the steps and paused to listen for where we needed to go.

"…should have him there now…"

"I don't want to miss this, I hear they're going to…"

"…and just follow me for the REAL show."

We turned to the right, following those voices. I wasn't sure where lab four was, but I was sure that these people would lead us right to it. We met with no opposition on the way, which was a pity. My bloodlust was high and I still had people to kill. I could hear the sounds of battle behind me, coming from upstairs and I spared a quick thought of luck in their direction. We finally came to an area that looked more like a hospital, so we started scanning the doors for our destination. As luck would have it, someone came out of the very place we were looking for. He was too busy scribbling on a notepad and didn't notice us until it was too late. By the time he looked up, Rogue was there with a beautiful right cross, followed by a kick to his head as he fell. This was a girl after my own heart. Too bad I'm straight. We dragged him to the side and burst into the lab.

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**AN:** Sorry for the relative shortness of this chapter, but it's the second to last one, so I hope you'll all forgive me...:) Special thanks to the beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for their constant support and assistance...this story wouldn't be half as good without their input! Extra Special thanks to everyone who reviewed, it's you guys that make me believe this story isn't complete poo...and, as always, Super Swanky thanks to the readers (even if you don't review...but you should!)...it's because of you that there's a sequel:)


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** If it isn't someone you recognize from the movie or the comics, then it's mine.

**Note:**I've decided to be magnanimous and update a day early...yes, there's a reason for it...:) I'm posting it as a reward to RhiannonUK for FINALLY updating her excellent story, "Full Metal Anarchy"...it's the sequel to her excellent story "A Force of Nature"...go read them now if you haven't already...:)

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Interlude: Logan

The lab coats strip Wolverine down and proceed to insert IV's in both arms, as well as cardiac and brainwave monitors on his chest and head. They insert a small wire into the base of his skull and his limbs suddenly go limp, as though he's been paralyzed. Panic rises in his eyes as he realizes they're not going to use drugs to keep him still and his healing factor won't try to compensate for something that seems like natural impulses to his nervous system. The lab coats just laugh at the irony and move him to a stretcher.

After a few minutes, they wheel him out of this small room and down a long hallway. During the trip, he hears the sounds of fighting above and suppresses the urge to smile. His girl is here and she brought backup. They're too far away for him to smell, but he's pretty sure he knows who's up there. They finally come to a room that looks all too familiar. From his perspective, all Wolverine can see is the tile, but he can smell that awful chemical soup that has haunted his nightmares for fifteen years. This only fuels his rage. They wheel him next to the source of that smell: the tank.

"Are you ready for some conditioning, Wolverine?" Franklin says as he leans over him, leering.

"Fuck you. My name is Logan!" He replies, almost growling.

"Oh yes, we know. We know more about you than you do. But after tonight, you'll only know what you need to know."

"All I need to know is that you'll be dead before you can do shit to me, asshole."

"We'll see about that." Franklin gestures and the restraints are suddenly opened. Wolverine tries to move, but his limbs will not cooperate. His panic goes up another notch; it's one thing to dream of drowing in the tank, it's another to have it happen all over again. Of course, we're in the chamber of a modern-day Mengele, he'll want Wolverine awake. The panic increases the rage and he can feel the animal struggling to be let free. Using an elaborate harness, they lift him from the gurney and lower him into the tank.

The chemicals immediately flood his mouth and nose, choking him, drowning him. His healing factor kicks in immediately to repair the damage. He can't see much through this mess, but he does see that everyone has suddenly snapped their heads up and they are looking at something in confusion. With great effort, he turns his head to peer out the side of the tank. The image is murky and the chemicals burn his eyes, but he smiles.

Hellcat is here and she looks pissed.

Chapter 20.

(Angela)

"YOU!" I spat as soon as I spied General Franklin. He was one of the people who were in charge of the "program" that made Logan and me. "Do what you want to the rest of them, leave this one to me!" I barked to Kitty and Rogue and charged across the floor. I leapt up on the tank, one foot on either edge and lashed at his face with my claws. He managed to dodge, but I still caught a piece of his ear as he backpedaled. I took the opportunity to pull Logan up in the tank. "Hello lover." I said. "What'd they do to you?

"Don't know." He replied and I realized he felt like dead weight in my hands. "Stuck somethin' in the back of my head."

I pulled him forward and saw the wire sticking out near the base of his skull. I ripped it out and he gave a small grunt of pain. I tossed it aside and took a moment to give him a quick kiss. "Join us when you're ready."

"With pleasure." He growled and I knew that I was talking to Wolverine; Logan wasn't home right now. I smiled and leapt off the tank in pursuit of Franklin.

He pulled a gun and cocked it. "Don't fight it, Hellcat. We wanted you both but we couldn't find you. Some of us thought you were dead. We didn't know you were at the mansion until it was too late to abort our original plan."

I kept walking. I didn't care if he had a gun. I'd always come back. "Fuck you, Franklin. You lost us both a long time ago. Now it's time for a little payback."

He smiled unpleasantly. "Not if you're dead." He pulled the trigger.

Now, I can't dodge bullets. Some people are impervious to them in one way or another, but I don't know anyone who can dodge them. But I can dodge where the gun is pointing, which is usually about where the bullet will go. I heard the sound of his skin shift when he squeezed the trigger and made a dive for the floor. The bullet passed close enough that I could feel the heat on my cheek, but it missed. I rolled as I hit the floor and came up with an uppercut to Franklin's smarmy face. I followed up with a slash to his right wrist, severing tendons and causing him to lose his gun. His eyes widened and he started to back away, cradling his damaged hand to his chest. I shot my foot out and kicked him full in the balls, claws out and felt a fairly satisfying "pop". He immediately fell over, vomiting.

I backed off and crossed my arms, waiting for him to recover. He rolled onto his back and started trying to scuttle away, but every time he moved his arm, he'd cry out in pain. I pounced on him, my knee in his chest. "You remember that op in China? The one where I took my time? I'm gonna recreate it just for you." He paled and gasped in pain. "Oh, what's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" My hand shot forward so fast it was a blur and sure enough, the 'Cat did have his tongue. I casually tossed it aside. "Hmm, maybe I should have waited. I kinda miss the begging for your life portion of the game. Oh well, I guess we'll have to see if I can interpret your whimpering." I once again brought my hand down and opened his left cheek. I then trailed my claws gently, almost sensuously down the other side of his face before opening that one too. I was about to continue peeling his face apart when a distinctive "snikt" sound came from just behind me. I smiled. "Oh look, company." I turned around and grinned ferally at Wolverine.

I was glad to see he'd acquired a pair of pants. I didn't know how much Kitty and Rogue got to see before he did, but since he had blood on his chest and arms and the pants were clean, I assumed quite a bit. Oh well, most of the girls at the school had a crush on him anyway. He's mine and nothing will change that. He squatted next to me. "I knew you'd come." He said, kissing my cheek.

"I had to. I couldn't leave you here. I would have walked if I had to." I replied.

"Did ya know this asshole thought you'd only bring Storm with you?"

"They never were the sharpest knives in the drawer."

"No, they gave those to me." He smiled and we both looked down at the general. "So, do you need a hand here or are you ok?"

I stood up. "Be my guest."

I looked behind me and saw that we were alone. "Rogue, Kitty, where are you?" I spoke into the earpiece.

"In the hall. Logan kicked us out cuz he was naked." Kitty said bitterly.

I couldn't help but smile. I knew that wasn't the only reason. He didn't want them to see what he was about to do. "Ok. Just stay there and keep watch. We'll be out in a minute."

I turned back to Wolverine and the general just in time to see him shove both sets of claws as far into that bastard's gut as they would go. With a growl, he pulled them in opposite directions and gutted him, blood spraying everywhere. Wolverine stumbled back a few steps, turned his back on the corpse and fell to his knees. I rushed to his side. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said. "Took a couple bullets earlier and one of 'em nicked a lung. Hurts like a bitch to heal somethin' like that." He looked up and grabbed me, burying his face in my hair. "I was afraid they'd get you too, get all of you. I don't know what they wanted to do with me. I was scared shitless."

"You? It wouldn't have lasted. You would have ended up pissed off and you would've killed a bunch of people."

He squeezed me tighter. "Look at you, bustin' me outta this place again. Maybe you're really an angel."

I chuckled. "No, not me. Just a selfish bitch that doesn't like it when someone makes off with something that belongs to me."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that."

I leaned forward and kissed him, then stood up and helped him to his feet. "C'mon, let's get outta here. I'm sure we'll have to fight our way out."

His eyes lit up. "Really? You're not just sayin' that?"

I laughed and put my arm around his waist. "Would I bullshit you?"

"Not about killin'." He stood there just looking at me for the longest time before turning away, the coldness once again flooding his eyes. "C'mon. Let's do this thing."

We left the lab and met up with Kitty and Rogue outside. Part of me wanted to just leave this place, but I knew I had to see if I could find any files that might be helpful in shutting this thing down once and for all. I sent Logan with Kitty down one hall while Rogue and I went in the opposite direction. The first few rooms we opened were either completely empty or had examination tables and instruments in them. The first office we found had nothing useful, but the second one gave us the mother lode.

There was a state of the art computer on the desk with a cursor waiting in the upper left corner. Rather than trying to hack it myself, I turned the thing off and worked the case open with my claws. A few moments later, I had the hard drive in hand. Rogue was going through the drawers and found several dozen cd-roms that looked promising. Finally, I pried open the file cabinet in the corner and started rifling through the contents. In the third drawer, I found a file that was simply marked "Wolverine". It was pretty thick, but I wasn't about to leave it behind. Further searching turned up one with my name on it, so I took that one too. Now that I had so much to carry, I needed something to carry it all in. We returned to the hall outside lab four and I grabbed the lab coat off the guy Rogue had decked earlier, tying it into a makeshift pack and slinging it over my shoulder. A few moments later, Kitty and Logan returned with a similar pack.

"We ready?" I said, asking everyone on the com.

"First floor is secure. We're holding til you get back." Storm said. She sounded a little winded.

"Roger that. We'll be there straight away." I looked at the rest of my team, nodded and we moved out. Logan took point while I took rearguard. We were just getting to the turn where the stairs were when I heard a shot from behind me and a searing pain tore through my right lung. I dropped like a ton of bricks.

"Oh fuck." I said, gasping for air. Logan was immediately at my side. "Hit…a lung." I handed my pack to Kitty. "Get…to Storm. Go to…the jet. Don't wait…more…than ten minutes. Move!"

I had to give them credit, they certainly did know how to take orders, even though it was obvious they didn't like them. Logan handed his pack to Rogue and they took off. I propped myself against the wall. "Logan…get…the hell…out."

"No. I'm not leavin' you. You know the rules." He said. He leaned over to pick me up and another shot rang out, hitting him in the leg. I don't know who it was doing it, but they were really monumentally stupid. You don't shoot Wolverine, it just makes him angry. He growled low in his throat and popped his claws, tearing around the corner. I heard several more shots, followed by a very wet sound and a thump. I'm pretty sure he decapitated someone. Good. He returned to where I was sitting and lifted me gently. "Where's the jet?"

"Southern tip…through woods." I gasped, resisting the urge to scream. A lung shot is fifty/fifty for me. This one was bad, but I wasn't sure how bad. Breathing was a bitch and I wished I could just croak and be done with it. The slow healing hurts in its own way; at least dead, it heals without me having to be a part of it. "Not…much time…to get there."

"Don't worry, darlin'. I'll get us there." He dashed up the steps, trying to spare me as much pain as he could, but that wasn't much. He looked around at the carnage on the first level and smiled. "Looks like they can dish it out after all." He said with a smirk.

"If…they have…to."

"Just hold on, baby, I'll get us outta here." He exited through the back and using that amazing nose of his scented the path to the jet. Storm was just finishing the pre-flight check when we broke out of the trees to the water's edge. Piotr and Kitty both let out whoops of joy when they saw us and Storm extended the ramp so we could cross. Once inside, Logan secured me in a seat in the back, taking the one right next to me. As soon as everyone was settled, the jet shot off into the night.

Logan leaned over and peeled my tank top up to get a good look at the wound. The bastard who shot me got lucky; it's a better than even chance that you'll hit adamantium when you shoot me, but this one passed right between my ribs and I could still feel the slug in my right lung. He cursed when he saw it and looked up to see Rogue standing there with the first aid kit in her hand. He opened it up, fished some stuff out and went to work.

The first thing he did was splash rubbing alcohol over the wound to clean the area. I screamed and resisted the urge to rip his balls off (I'd want those later). After getting it as clear as he could, he packed the bullet hole with gauze and taped it in place. He then took out a syringe and made like he was going to inject me. I slapped it out of his hands. "No…drugs. Don't…like…them."

"Hon, it's for the pain. I hate to see you like this."

"Don't…care. No drugs." I took his hand. "Just…hold." He nodded in understanding and let me maul the shit out of his hand on the trip back to the school.

"I missed someone." He said unexpectedly. I looked at him, bewildered. "When I got the guy who shot you. There was someone else in the hall, a Japanese guy. I took the shooter's head off and turned to him. He ran and I wanted to go after him but I had to get back to you." I just smiled at him to let him know it was ok. We'd find them all, sooner or later.

Storm radioed ahead to Xavier and he had someone waiting in the hangar with a stretcher for me. Logan rushed down the ramp and carefully put me on it, then ran down the hall all the way to the med lab with us. Once inside, she tried to shoo him away but he just growled and stood his ground. She examined me, commented that my dressing was "pretty good for an amateur job" and dropped the bomb.

"I'm sorry. I have to operate to get it out."

I closed my eyes, shuddering. "If you…say so." I said. "Logan…stays."

She shook her head. "No, I can't allow that. It's not…"

I cut her off. "He…stays. It's the…rules."

She looked at Logan for an explanation. "No one gets left behind. We don't leave the other until we're both ok." He said. "And I wouldn't let you kick me out anyway. Just scrub me up and I'll hold her hand."

The doctor shook her head but complied with our wishes. A few minutes later, they both returned in scrubs and surgical masks. She put an oxygen mask over my face and inserted a couple of IV's. Finally, she gave me some kind of injection and I started to feel very light. Logan looked at me and said something, but I was already out by the time I thought about it.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke up I felt much better, I could breathe without my lung hurting but the pain of the gunshot was still there, though significantly lessened. I looked around in the dim light and noticed that Logan was sleeping in a chair with his head on the edge of my bed. I raised my hand and ran my fingers through his hair, causing him to wake up with a smile.

"Hey tiger." He said. "How you feelin'?"

"Like running a marathon." He smiled. "How long was I out?"

"Two days. I think the doctor did it on purpose to keep you from runnin' around like a madwoman."

"Remind me to stiff her for the bill."

"Chuck pays our expenses, remember?"

"Oh yeah." I smiled and he kissed my fingertips before I drifted off again. The next time I woke, he was gone but the doctor and Xavier were both there. She introduced herself as a Dr. Endicott, then busied herself examining me. I turned and smiled at the Professor. "At least I was the worst off, huh?"

"I would have preferred it not happen to anyone." He said. "But I understand that you got there just in time?"

I nodded gently. "Had him in the tank, wide awake but paralyzed. But we took care of it."

He pressed his lips into a thin line. "Yes, the others told me. I can't say that I agree with the amount of sheer violence you employed, but under the circumstances, I can understand it."

"It's a bad world full of bad people. I'm just badder than they are."

"Well, that aside, I just wanted to say congratulations for a job well done." He paused as if searching for words. "Even Scott reluctantly agreed that the use of force was necessary."

My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. "The hell you say? Mr. Tightass agreeing with extreme violence? What next, tequila shots?"

Xavier laughed. "I don't know if we can go that far, but like you said, it's a bad world full of bad people. And sometimes good people have to do bad things to defeat them. You are one of those people and if you would like to stay on as a permanent part of the team, I would consider myself supremely lucky."

I was unexpectedly touched. "I'll let you know when I'm back on my feet. Which should be soon if I don't miss my guess."

Now it was Dr. Endicott's turn to smile. "Quite right. I wish I knew how this healing thing you and Logan have works. It would be fascinating if it could be replicated."

"Oh, you don't mean that. We'd make you obsolete."

"Perhaps. But I also wouldn't have old friends waking me in the middle of the night to dig bullets of his people anymore." She said with a sly glance to the Professor. She checked the monitors behind me, then shut them off and busied herself removing the IV's. "It seems you're back to normal functions, so I can't justify keeping you here. Just come back in a week for another checkup, ok?"

I nodded and sat up. I was a little lightheaded from the quick change of position but recovered fast enough. I stood gingerly, not wanting a repeat of the dizzy spell, but lucked out that time. After a few parting words to the doctor and Charles, I made my way to my room. Logan was sleeping, sprawled out in the middle of the bed wearing only boxers. I smiled and gently eased myself next to him, my head on his chest over his heart. He stirred and wrapped his arms around me.

"Mmm, you're a sight for sore eyes." He mumbled.

"The doc said I could go. And I missed you." I kissed his chest and he made a pleasurable sound, so I kept kissing.

"Did she clear you for activity?"

"She didn't say 'take it easy', if that's what you're asking."

"Good." He pulled me on top of him, his hand buried in my hair and kissed me soundly. I responded, raking my claws down his chest just gently enough to not break the skin. We made love like we hadn't seen each other in years, not a couple of days, an intensity to it that neither one of us had ever experienced, even with each other. It was fierce and tender at the same time, a completely unexpected combination. My two day coma gave me massive reserves of energy and he must have had one hell of a nap. I'll say again, I'm very glad that I'm bendy.

Afterwards, we lay there quietly, just looking in each other's eyes. After a long moment, he lowered his head to my shoulder and started shaking. It took me a moment to realize he was crying. I wrapped my arms around him and stroked his hair making soothing sounds. "Logan, lover, what's wrong?"

"I can't stand to see you hurt. It seems like whenever we're together, you get hurt." He started. I stopped him.

"Look, we're both dangerous people. We were partially born that way, partially made that way. I can't deny that my life in Detroit was safer, which sounds so wrong, but I don't want that life back."

He looked back into my eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek. "How can you say that? You could walk away from all of this, go make a new life for yourself. You shouldn't have to be in this fight."

"What kind of person would I be if I knew that I had exactly the right combination of talents to help people and I didn't? I can't just walk away, not anymore." I shifted out from under him and sat up. "Logan, there's a war out there and it's obviously getting worse. I have tried for a long time to kill the Hellcat in me, but I can't. She's always there, waiting. And I realize now that I am just what I need to be, in the right place at the right time. Just like you."

He snorted in dissent. "Yeah, I'm here just in time to kick ass and take names." He shifted so he was in front of me, looking at me. "When I looked over and saw you takin' than general apart a piece at a time, I was thrilled. But it wasn't enough, I wanted to make sure I got the killin' blow, not you. And it felt so good to do it." He looked down in shame.

"Logan, look at me." He didn't, so I put my hand under his chin and lifted his eyes to mine. "I said look at me, damn it! I know, I took out that bitch Anissa. I wish I'd had more time with her so I could have made her suffer. Maybe we're both into the overkill because it's so deeply ingrained into us by those bastards that we don't know any other way. So fine, they wanted us to be killers; let's kill them all and let their devil sort them out."

He heaved a sigh then gathered me in his arms again. "I guess I just hate feelin' like I'm still doin' what they want me to do after all this time. You'd think I'd be able to control it."

"Hey, it's not about control. It's about focus. I have all the same rage you do, ya know. So we'll focus that rage onto the people who deserve it. Once they're gone, we'll leave all this and go back to that little cabin in Alberta and just stay there til the world evolves a better human."

He chuckled. "That could take a while, you know."

I shrugged. "It's not like we don't have all the time in the world."

"Very true." He kissed me again, then laid his head on my lap. I stroked his hair until he fell asleep, but his words rested heavy in my heart. We'd both been around long enough to see our worlds torn asunder by the very worst that people could dish out. It hurt me that most of the people we knew in this house would probably be gone long before we were, I thought I'd grown used to that. But the truth is a bitter pill to swallow and I knew it would be a very long time before the world evolved better people. But at least neither one of us would have to wait for that alone, not anymore.

_The End._

_(For now)_

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**AN:** Well, that's it...:) I want to thank all of you for coming with me on this ride...I've never had a scarier moment in my life than I did when I was trying to convince myself to click the button to post the first chapter...Special thanks to my beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for helping me with this project...your patience and understanding mean the world to me! Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for his continuing support, even though he keeps accusing me of being a pusher and my stories are his crack...:) Super Special thanks to those who have reviewed, you're the only proof i have that anyone read this and it means more than i can say that you took the time to share your thoughts...And Super Swanky thanks to everyone who read (whether you reviewed or not)...without you, there wouldn't be a sequel...:)

I had intended to hold off on the sequel until after X:3 came out, but my muse can be very insistent, so the sequel blatantly ignores that movie...this will make some people happy, others not so much...either way, i hope you're all ready for more in the continuing saga of Hellcat and Wolverine!


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